Safe and Sound
by HarryPotterfanforeverr123
Summary: Post 5x10. CB. All she knew to do was to whisper the same lie that had been told to her. The lie that she had told herself, a hundred times that day, and the same lie she would tell a hundred times more. "Shhh," she said. "It's going to be okay."
1. Okay

**Safe and Sound **

**AN: Hey guys! It's been forever since my last GG story, I know…but I've been planning on doing a story during the (short) break, and the mid season finale's cliffhanger provides an interesting start to one. The episode was absolutely heartbreaking, but it was really well-written and good. Anyways, this story picks up right at the end of 5x10. It's going to (most of the time) alternate between chapters about everyone but Chuck from multiple points of view and chapters just from the point of view of Chuck. It will make more sense when you get to his first POV chapter. **

**This will be from multiple points of view (I like that format best) but it will be in second person (some people have mentioned that they prefer that). **

**Without further ado, here's the story! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gossip Girl. **

**Chapter 1-Okay **

_Spotted: Lily, Rufus, D, S, and N rushing to a hospital in New York after a paparazzi-caused car crash caused our favorite star-crossed lovers to check in. But before you go pointing fingers, remember that I don't cause the problems in your lives, I just write about them. Guess it's no coincidence that trauma rhymes with drama. _

_Xoxo, _

_Gossip Girl _

**Nate **

Some people say that something traumatic has happens, everything around them becomes a blur. When they look back on it, they can hardly remember anything at all. All they have to deal with is the end result.

But Nate could remember every moment in painful detail. He could remember the driver pulling over, he could remember running from the car and surveying the scene, all while the paparazzi scattered. He had wanted to chase after them, wanted to show them the damage they had done, just for a good story, but he had restrained himself. Still, he thought, he was a journalist too, but he would never have had his staff chase after a car like that. His mind spinning, Nate had turned back to the car. He hesitated for a moment, but just a moment, before stepping closer and looking inside. He felt as if this wasn't this life, that these weren't his friends. This car was just another one shown in a video in health class about the dangers of drinking and driving. This wasn't the limo holding two of his best friends.

But it was, and Nate wasn't going to stand by when people he loved needed him. Hoping that he would see Chuck and Blair shaken but unharmed, he had grasped the handle of the car door and pulled it open.

And if there was any part that was the least blurry in Nate's memory, it was the sight in front of him at that moment.

He had stayed with them after calling the police, although he wasn't sure they knew he was there. He had been terrified of moving them and causing them further harm, so he had knelt in the backseat of the ruined care and said whatever comforting thing he could think of. Blair had drifted in and out of consciousness, mumbling incoherently and once lifting a trembling hand to her stomach. But she hadn't said a word, or acknowledged Nate at all. Still, Nate had smoothed her hair back from her bloodstained face and told her it was all going to be alright. But her hand on her stomach had reminded Nate of something he didn't even want to think about, yet the thought had come to him anyways. Blair was fragile enough, and she had been badly injured; what would happen to the even more fragile baby?

While Blair stirred and mumbled, Chuck didn't move a muscle, which scared Nate more. Chuck would have scoffed if someone had called him fragile, yet the crash seemed to have broken him as easily as it had the hood of the car. Nate felt another wave of anger at the sick people who had chased his friends and caused the crash. Anger was better than fear. Anger gave him strength. Strength led him to finally reach one shaking hand over to take the pulses of Chuck and Blair.

Alive. But just barely.

When the ambulance had come, he had watched Chuck, Blair, and their driver carried away on stretchers, Blair's hand falling from her stomach. Struggling to compose himself, he had started to walk back to the car and, realizing what he had to do, had taken out his phone. Because no matter how much he didn't want to think of how he would tell Lily, Serena, and Dan about Blair and Chuck, it was better than thinking of what would happen if the EMTs couldn't save Chuck and Blair, so he had taken a deep breath and waited as the phone rang.

Standing in front of Lily and trying to wipe away these all too clear memories , Nate realized how much he hated waiting. Waiting for Lily to arrive, waiting for Serena and Dan to arrive, waiting to hear new of how Chuck and Blair were doing….it was more than he could stand. And Lily's update only made things worse.

"But he's alive?" Serena asked Lily urgently, who was still at a loss of words. "Mom!"

Silently, Lily nodded. "But I don't know….how much longer…." She managed to say, before allowing Rufus to lead her to a chair.

Serena grabbed Nate's arms, taking shaky breaths. "Chuck can't…" she started, but she couldn't continue. "He won't…"

"Of course not," Nate said, but he was lying.

"Promise me, Nate….promise me he won't…" she said, clutching his coat.

Her desperate eyes searched Nate's, looking for more reassurance, but he found he couldn't give her any. He opened his mouth to respond, but the words wouldn't come out. He had said countless reassuring things to Chuck and Blair, and where had that gotten them? He wasn't going to make a promise he couldn't keep.

"It's not up to me, Serena," Nate said softly.

"Then who is it up to?" Serena demanded, her eyes wild. "Who, Nate?"

Once again, Nate had no response. He could only stare at Serena. "I…"

"What about the baby?" Dan finally spoke up from behind them. "She didn't say…."

Serena blinked, then released Nate. She walked up to Dan. "There's no way it survived," she whispered after a moment. "If Chuck doesn't…..there's no way the baby could have…" Her eyes filled with tears, and Dan wrapped his arms around her.

"Shh…it's going to be okay," Dan said, feeding Serena the lies Nate could no longer find the strength to supply. But she knew it was a lie. No matter how desperately she needed it to be the truth, no matter how much she pretended that it was, she knew it was a lie. They all did. That's the funny thing about telling someone that everything it going to be alright…because no one ever knows when it is.

Watching them, Nate wondered if there might be something going on with Dan and Serena again. But after reading Dan's book, the whole thing this time, he thought that Dan may have feelings for Blair instead. But hadn't he been the one to bring Chuck and Blair together? Had he, then, been the one to cause the crash? Or had it been gossip girl's blast, like Serena had said? Or the paparazzi? Or was it just fate, chasing down Chuck and Blair like paparazzi on motorcycles until it could finally destroy them and their love?

In the end, there was really no one to blame. Whatever had caused this terrible accident, it had happened, and all they could do was wait and then wait some more, hoping and praying that the lie of everything being alright might actually come true this time.

"We have to call Louis," Serena said as she and Dan pulled away. "He needs to know. She may have chosen Chuck, but that's his baby, and he loves Blair. I already have six missed calls from him."

"You're right," Dan said, seeming glad that Serena had been the one to suggest it and not him. "Why don't you call Louis while I ask if I can go see Blair? Lily said that she's awake."

Dan started to walk away, but Serena grabbed his arm and held him back. "She's my best friend," she said fiercely, regaining some of her strength. "I'll go see her. You call Louis."

Dan looked like he wanted to argue, but after a moment he sighed and put his hands up in defeat. "Fine, I'll call Louis. But Serena, be careful not to upset Blair. Try not to mention Chuck…"

Serena's lip trembled and she looked like a little girl again, the same one who had cried when Blair had pushed her off of her swing for sitting with Nate at lunch.

"Maybe you should take your own advice," Nate said to Dan as Serena walked away. "He could die, Dan. And he's like a brother to us." Dan turned to glare at Nate, but he saw that Nate looked sad too. Dan nodded, and Nate turned to walk away.

"Nate!" Dan called after him, and Nate turned around. Dan suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Nate, uh…I understand more than you think. I care too, you know. Chuck and I haven't always gotten along in the past, but I wouldn't want…." Dan shifted his weight and shrugged. "I don't want anything bad to happen to him either," he finished awkwardly.

Nate paused for a moment, then nodded. "I know," he said, walking back over to Dan and clapping him on the shoulder. "None of us do."

And with that, he turned back around, with Dan following him over to the couches. Nate couldn't help thinking, though, that it didn't matter how many people didn't want anything bad to happen to Chuck. It wasn't enough that Dan cared about Chuck too. It wasn't enough that they all did. Because just like no one could prevent the crash, Nate wasn't sure anyone or anything could prevent Chuck's story from ending even more abruptly and tragically than Charlie Trout's.

**Serena**

Serena hadn't expected it to be so easy to be able to see Blair. She had walked up to the doctors and demanded to see her, ready to use the Van der Woodsen name, money, and charm to her advantage. But they hadn't refused; they had explained Blair's injuries and cautioned Serena to not upset her, and then led her to her room.

Blair was lying in bed, her face as white as the sheets on the hospital bed. She glanced over to Serena as she came in, and Serena saw that she was crying.

"Serena," she said in a strangled voice. "Serena, please…."

"Blair!" Serena cried, and rushed over to her best friend. "I was so worried about you. We all were. I'm so glad you're okay."

But she was not, of course, okay. She was shaking with repressed sobs, and her eyes were as pleading and desperate and Serena's had been minutes before.

"Where is he, S?" she asked desperately. "Why won't they tell me anything?"

"B, calm down," Serena said soothingly, noticing as she examined Blair's face and injuries that saying she was okay was about as far from the truth as she could get. "The doctors said that you should take it easy. Your body is still recovering from the crash. You should be resting, or eating, or sleeping."

"How can I rest when he could be fighting for his life? How can I eat when he may not be able to? How can I close my eyes when his may never open? How can I live when he could be dead?" Blair cried, grabbing Serena's arm. "How, S?"

Serena struggled for words. "I don't know, Blair," she said finally.

"Just tell me one thing," Blair said through tears. "Is he alive?"

Serena paused. "Barely…It's not looking good," she said sadly, repeating what the doctors had told her when she had asked about Chuck on the way to Blair's room.

Blair fell back against her pillows and closed her eyes in pain.

"At least he was happy," Serena said quickly. "In those last moments, he was happy. He was with you-"

"He's dying. He's in pain, and he's dying. How can he be happy right now? Would you be happy, if you had just gotten all you had ever wanted and then lost it in the most painful way imaginable? Would you?"

Serena sighed, then shook her head. "No, I guess you're right. But Blair, isn't it better than dying alone, than having the ending he was always afraid of?"

Blair looked away. "You're acting like he's already dead," she said quietly. "And he's not."

"B, he lost a lot of blood," Serena said quietly. "You have to understand that. I don't want you to get your hopes up."

"Hope is all I have left, Serena. You want to know all they would tell me? They told me they're monitoring the baby. That's all they would tell me. That they're monitoring it. What if I lose them…and it's all my fault?"

"Don't say that," Serena said gently. "None of this is anyone's fault."

"Is it?" Blair asked. "I went against fate, Serena. I made a mistake. I was supposed to be with Louis, the father of this child. But I didn't. And now I'm getting punished." She paused, and looked at Serena. "Why were they chosen? Why couldn't it have been me?"

"B…" Serena said, and brought her friend into a hug. All she knew to do was to whisper the same lie that had been told to her. The same lie that she was willing to bet thousands of people had said in this hospital to family members before. The lie that she had told herself, a hundred times that day, and the same lie she would tell a hundred times more.

"Shhh," she said. "It's going to be okay."

**AN: Please review and tell me what you think! **


	2. Very Wrong

**AN: Okay, so here is where things get….strange. I'm definitely taking a risk here and I hope you guys will bear with me and give it a chance. And if you don't like it, that's totally fine, because this storyline is mostly separate from the other chapters. I'll get back to Blair and everyone next chapter, and every other odd chapter. You can read only the odd chapters and be fine, or if you want to, you can read only the even chapters. They do connect in small ways, but you don't really need to read one to get the other.**

**It's from the point of view of Chuck. It will be confusing at first, but just bear with me and you'll understand soon. You'll probably be able to guess, and if you can't then Chuck will eventually realize it himself and you'll know then. Here's the chapter! **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Gossip Girl, it would be a show solely about Chuck and Blair's life as a married couple with multiple baby Basses. If only…**

**Chapter 2-Very Wrong **

Chuck felt very, very strange.

He woke up in an eerily quiet hospital bed, and groaned as he remembered the events of the last few hours….or had it been longer than that? He remembered meeting up with Blair, he remembered going into the taxi, and he remembered the crash….it had happened so suddenly. One moment he was looking out the window at the paparazzi, and the next he was feeling the impact of the crash and hearing Blair's screams….and then darkness.

But now there was light. There was too much light. Chuck had always hated that about hospitals. Why did it always have to be so damn light all the time? Were they trying to blind the patients?

Once Chuck got past the light, he realized why the silence was so strange. There wasn't a single person in the room. There was a beeping heart monitor, but it was very quiet, almost like it was muffled with a large comforter or pillow. But it wasn't; Chuck could see it not two feet from him. But he couldn't see a single person. He wouldn't have expected flowers and every person he knew there next to him braiding his hair, but he would have expected at least a doctor or nurse. After all, he had just been through a car crash and was in the hospital. There should be someone making sure he was okay. Unless they were all with Blair…

Chuck's slight annoyance turned suddenly to extreme fear. Where was she? Was she okay? What about the baby? Were most of the doctors there, struggling to keep her alive? Or was she dead? Chuck couldn't bear the thought of losing her, the baby, and the amazing future he had finally gotten but didn't deserve. Was that why this had happened? To punish him? But he had tried so hard to change…but a tiger never changes its stripes…

Chuck closed his eyes and lay back against his pillows. He would have asked the nurse to find out how Blair was, but there was no nurse. What was he supposed to do? He opened his eyes again to see if there was a button to call for a nurse and was startled to see Lily standing in the doorway. She was smiling, but not in a reassuring way. Her smile was almost….creepy. He shook the thought out of his head and sat up.

"Lily," he said urgently. "How is she?"

"Who?"

"Blair!" Who else?

"Oh, her. She was allowed to go home hours ago," Lily said, oddly formal. "She's fine. She's waiting for us downstairs."

"Thank God," Chuck breathed. "And me? When can I leave?"

He looked again at Lily's strange smile and wondered if there was something wrong, something that didn't have anything to do with Blair. "Am _I_ okay?"

Lily nodded. "You're fit as a fiddle."

Chuck frowned. Lily never said things like that. "Are _you_ okay?" he asked slowly.

"Don't be silly. I'm fine," Lily said. She stared at Chuck for a minute. "We should go," she finally said.

"I can just leave?" Chuck asked in disbelief. "Did you check me out?"

Lily nodded and handed him a pile of clothes he hadn't seen her holding before. "Nate brought you a change of clothes."

Chuck nodded and walked to the bathroom to change. When he got inside, he noticed that it was the same thing he was wearing before the crash, but it looked clean. He didn't have two of the same suit…then again, his suits did look pretty similar. Maybe the doctors had given him drugs for the pain after the crash and he was just still a little out of it…that would explain him having no pain and feeling strange. When he came out, Lily was still standing there. She turned, oddly mechanically, and walked out the door. Chuck followed her, noticing that the hospital halls were oddly empty. He saw Blair waiting, alone, in the same clothes and hairstyle as the day before, with not a hair out of place. Once again, Chuck felt it was very odd.

"Hi," she smiled at him.

"Hey," he replied, relieved to see her alright. It wasn't that he didn't believe Lily, but it didn't feel real until he saw her. Actually, it still didn't feel real. How was it that they had both survived the crash, barely harmed? They had been incredibly lucky, Chuck thought. Too lucky. Things like that didn't just happen without strings attached. You couldn't have something this good happen without it being followed by something horrible. She looked fine, but Chuck had to be sure: "How are you?"

"I'm fine," she said. "And you?"

"I'm fine," Chuck said slowly, noticing how strangely calm Blair was. He would have expected her to be worried about him, or her baby, or herself. Maybe the doctors had let them go, but it had been a serious crash. There had to have been some repercussions. Maybe Blair was trying to avoid them and trying not to think about it. That was something she did often. That must be it.

"I'll leave you two alone," Lily said, and she left with a smile. She seemed more like herself now, and Chuck decided that her acting strange earlier had just been his imagination.

"How long have you been out of the hospital?"

Blair shrugged. "I'm not sure. A few hours, maybe?" She looked confused and lost.

Chuck paused, struggling between asking again if she was feeling okay and asking the question that was burning in his mind. "Did you see Louis?" Chuck asked, deciding she wouldn't like him pestering her about her health.

"Not yet. I was going to now," Blair said, walking with Chuck out of the building. "I'll see you later," she said suddenly, starting to walk away.

"Wait, Blair!" Chuck said, grabbing her arm. She turned back to him slowly. Chuck couldn't tell if she was angry or not. "You don't have to pretend, Blair," he said softly. "You don't have to put on a brave face. Are you worried about the baby? Or are you worried about telling Louis? Because you don't have to do this alone. I can come with you. I _want_ to come with you."

"I'm not worried about anything," Blair insisted. "Leave me alone!"

Her arm slid from Chuck's grasp as she hurried away.

"Leave you alone?" Chuck asked, confused. Was she angry with him? He just wanted to go with her, for moral support. "Blair!" he shouted, stepping forward.

Suddenly, the sounds of blaring car horns filled his ears and his eyes widened as a car barreled toward him. Blair finally turned and screamed. "_Chuck!_"

The car hit him full on, flinging him over the top and then throwing him on the ground.

For a few moments, everything seemed silent. All he could hear was his own ragged breathing. He opened his eyes. He blinked. He stood up.

He felt no pain.

He stepped out of the road as Blair hurried back towards him. "Are you okay?" she asked fearfully.

"I'm fine," Chuck said breathlessly, but he wasn't. His mind was racing.

"You just got hit by a _car_," Blair said, starting to sound a bit more like herself now, just like Lily had. "Don't tell me you're fine."

Chuck shrugged, still feeling bewildered. "I can't explain it."

He hadn't been able to feel pain earlier in the year, either, but he didn't think that had come back. After all, things had been going well for him just before the crash. There was no reason to not feel anything.

"The drugs," Chuck said suddenly. "That must be it. Maybe they gave me too much, so I don't feel any pain. I'm sure I'll feel it later."

Blair looked relieved to have a realistic if somewhat flimsy explanation for what had happened, so she nodded. "The car wasn't going very fast," she said, sounding unsure of herself.

Chuck nodded, still feeling strange. "This is why I hate hospitals. They get to choose everything. They control whether you live or die or how well you recover."

Blair was sympathetic. "I know you hate them," she said. "If you're really fine, I guess I'll go?"

Chuck was still staring at the spot he had been hit by the car, and by the time he turned around to stop her, she was gone.

Chuck sighed and turned back to the road. Suddenly, something very strange happened. Everything in front of him flickered. Everything was bright white for a moment, almost like the hospital room. _"He's not responding," _he thought he heard a voice say. Then, a split second later, it was normal again. Chuck looked around wildly. No one had noticed. No one else was looking around, bewildered, and no one else seemed to have just experienced what Chuck had.

The way Blair and Lily were acting, the flickering, the car…it was all very strange. Too strange. Too strange to be _real_.

Something was very wrong.

**AN: Okay, so if this chapter seemed weird, or choppy, or unrealistic, or the characters seemed OOC, that was all on purpose, and you probably know why. If you don't like it, don't forget that you can still just read the odd chapters! Thanks for… **

**Reviewing: Aliennut, ManhattanACMxoxo, Capt. Torie Bones, AleshaaaRose10, and lna89 **

**Story Alert: SXFM, Capt. Torie Bones, watermelon2014, AleshaaaRose10, tivadelena, Nerissa1243, mel087, aprilmayy, and kit147 **

**Favorite Story: Aliennut, parfait-automne, moshea, EmmaGrey, tsukimonse, fancyonlife, and Chemromance98 **

**Please please review! **


	3. Still Very Wrong

**Chapter 3-Still Very Wrong **

**Dan **

Something was very wrong.

Dan still couldn't believe that this had happened to Chuck and Blair. They didn't deserve this. It wasn't fair that the paparazzi had chased them until they crashed. It wasn't fair that they were fighting for their lives because of this. None of it was fair. None of it felt right at all.

Dan had called Louis, and he was on his way. It hadn't been a very long conversation, but it had been an upsetting one. Louis was out of his mind with worry over losing Blair. Dan had assured him that she was alive, but he got the impression that Louis was still worried about losing her in a different way.

Dan wasn't even sure if Blair would want to see Louis. He wasn't even sure if Blair would want to see _him_. Did she even want to see Serena? Was she really okay, or was she still in danger of losing her life? And what about the baby? And what about Chuck?

This was certainly not the ending Dan had expected.

Serena had made a good point; everyone had gotten the endings they wanted. Nate was running the spectator and Chuck was in therapy. And Dan had helped Chuck and Blair get their ending. Maybe he didn't get Blair in the end, but he had learned a valuable lesson about helping others. Everything had seemed okay…well, okay enough so that he could write a good "Afterwards".

But in a second, everything had changed. The truth was that there really was no correct "afterwards" to write. Just like the end of a book or movie, where the characters are in the "Afterwards", which is only few months later in their lives, is still not the end of their story. Their story continues on, with more twists and turns even after the book is done….a character could be one way at the end of a book and then completely change…a person could be one way at one point in their lives and then everything could change. A person could be alive one moment, and then…dead the next.

Was that all it had been? Just the normal way of the world, where people died every day, and anyone's story could change in an instant? It just wasn't fair. Chuck's life had finally reached a happy ending, and the book had seemed over. But it had continued, and in one second, it had gone from "Happily Ever After" to a dead end, literally. People all over the world would have put down the book, content with the happy ending, unaware that there was a much more sinister ending in store. They would have gone on with their lives, not knowing. In fact, they were going on with their lives, at this very moment, not knowing. People all over the world were probably eating dinner, at a movie, going to a museum, and doing other everyday things, at the same moment as someone who was young and in love had been killed, turning the worlds of so many people upside down. How could the world still be working, how could everyone go on living their lives, unaware that another couldn't do the same?

Was his story really over?

There was to be no afterwards for Chuck. Not in his book, not in real life….Charlie Trout had died by his own hand, alone and unloved. Chuck Bass would die with his friends and family by his side, in love, and with an entire life ahead of him to be happy. Everyone had commented on how tragic and abrupt Charlie's ending had been, but Dan wondered whether this ending was far worse, far crueler. He thought of how Blair must feel, how Lily must feel, and even how he himself felt, and thought that it was. Chuck had finally gotten everything he wanted. But now his dreams were ruined, and everything he had was slipping away, as the life seeped out of him.

He didn't want to tell Serena what he was thinking. He didn't want to tell Blair, either, though he still wanted to see her. And he definitely didn't want to tell Lily. He kept quiet, but his unsaid words circled over all of their heads anyways. They could hope and they could pray, but it wouldn't stop what was happening. He was dying, and even though they all were willing to do whatever they could to help, there was nothing they could do about it.

Everyone jumped when the silence was broken by the sound of a phone ringing.

"Sorry," Nate said quietly, as he fumbled with his phone to turn the volume off.

"Who is it?" Dan asked Nate in a low voice.

Nate shrugged. "I didn't recognize the number."

Dan was about to go back to his thoughts when he noticed Nate's phone lighting up again.

"What if it's something important? What if it…."

"…has to do with Chuck or Blair?" Nate finished. It was a stupid thought, they both knew, as they were already in the hospital, but they had an eerie feeling that this call was one that should be answered.

"They wouldn't keep calling if it wasn't important," Nate whispered, as he phone lit up for a third time. He hesitated for a moment, then sighed and picked it up.

"Hello? …..Yes, this is Nate Archibald…..oh, okay…..it wasn't? Then what was it?...the what? How did that happen?..."

Dan listened carefully to the conversation, trying to decipher if it was good news or bad, but he didn't have to wait long to find out.

"What are you saying, that someone did it on purpose?" Nate said, his eyes wide in disbelief, his face fearful. "So it wasn't the paparazzi…?"

Everyone looked up at this, their attention caught. Nate didn't say anything else for a long time, and just sat with his head bowed.

"…thank you for telling me," he said finally. "Call me if you find out anything else."

He hung up the phone, and remained with his head down in his hands.

"Nate?" Dan asked worriedly.

Nate shook his head and dialed a number on his phone.

"Hello, this is Nate Archibald," he said into the phone. "I'm calling to report attempted murder."

**Lily **

Lily clutched the chair for support as she listened to Nate speak, white with fear.

"What's he talking about?" she asked urgently. "Rufus?"

But Rufus just shook his head.

"….yes, the car was tampered with. Someone took out the brake fluid….there's been an accident….no, I don't know who….Blair Waldorf and Chuck Bass were the victims…no, Blair survived, but Chuck…. Thank you." Nate hung up, and looked around at them all grimly.

There was silence for a moment.

Then there was chaos.

"I'm sorry, someone _what_?" Lily asked faintly.

"It wasn't the paparazzi?" Rufus asked.

"It was murder?" Dan said.

"Who was murdered?" Serena cut in, coming back from Blair's room.

"Attempted murder," Nate corrected. "Unless…"

"Don't say it!" Serena said quickly.

"We're all thinking it," Dan sighed.

"Do we really have a murderer on the loose?" Lily asked fearfully.

"Why did they want to kill them?" Rufus asked.

"Who wants to kill us?" Serena said, startled.

"Someone deliberately caused the accident?" Dan asked, still having trouble comprehending it.

"What's going on?" Serena cried.

"Guys!" Nate shouted, silencing all of the confused cries. "Be quiet, I know you're probably horrified, and confused, but please calm down and let me explain."

Serena sat down and everyone waited anxiously for Nate to explain. Lily didn't know what to think. She had seen many things over the years, as one would expect with the family she had and who she was. But she had never been more surprised and horrified as she was now. There had never been a murderer on the loose before, if that was what Nate was saying. Well, unless you count Russell, but Lily didn't, as she didn't know about most of that until it was over.

"The first person I talked to on the phone was the limo company. When their car was being towed, it was discovered that the brake fluid was gone….meaning the brakes won't work. They thought it had probably happened when the car crashed, but the area around it wasn't damaged at all, and it looked like the careful work of human hands. They think somebody tampered with the limo before Chuck and Blair got in."

He paused for a moment to let that sink in. Serena had her hand to her mouth, and looked to be frozen in shock. Lily couldn't blame her. She wasn't sure if she would be able to move either, even if she wanted to.

"He suggested I call the police. That was the second person I was on the phone with. They're sending someone over to speak with me, and then someone's going to examine the car and try to figure out who did this."

"Do you really think they were trying to kill them?" Serena asked softly.

"Of course they were, what do you think happens when you can't brake? You crash," Dan snapped at Serena, who looked hurt.

"Come on, let's not get angry at each other. This isn't the fault of anyone here. But it is the fault of someone, and we have to concentrate our energies into finding out who."

"Wait, isn't this still the paparazzi's fault?" Serena pointed out. "Even without braking, they could have turned and stayed on the road if the paparazzi hadn't been there."

Nate shrugged. "I guess they both were factors in the crash, but still…eventually, they would have crashed anyways. There's only so long you can drive for….maybe they could have slowed down and somehow jumped out, but it's unlikely that they would be able to avoid a crash, unless they were on a road with no other cars."

"Should I tell Blair this?" Serena asked. "I don't want to upset her. She's already very distraught."

"How is she?" Dan asked suddenly, but Serena only glared at him. Dan sighed. "I'm sorry for getting mad at you, Serena. Nate's right, this isn't our fault, and we need to band together against whoever did this."

Serena sighed. "You're right. She's….well, she's not great. She's hurt, but she doesn't seem to be willing to rest and recover. She's' desperate, asking me over and over about Chuck. I…I didn't know what to say."

"So what did you tell her?" Lily asked, nervous. She hoped that Serena hadn't told Blair the condition Chuck was in, because the last thing Blair needed was to be even more distressed.

"The truth," Serena said. Lily was shocked. How could she upset her best friend like that?

"In her condition, you told her the one thing that will make her least likely to recover?"

"What else could I do?" Serena asked, with a pleading tone to her voice. "She needed to know, and she was getting more and more upset and anxious. I needed to calm her down."

"And you thought telling her that Chuck was dying was a good way to do that?" Lily asked incredulously.

"At least now she knows," Serena insisted.

"Wait, her condition?" Dan cut in suddenly.

"It just means that she's hurt," Nate said.

Dan shook his head. "There's something else," he said, looking at Lily and Serena avoiding his gaze. "The baby…" he said quietly, and Lily felt her heart drop, dreading telling the people around her yet another piece of awful news.

**Nate **

Nate looked from Serena to Dan. "What about it?" he questioned. "It isn't….it's not dead, is it?"

"They're monitoring it," Lily said quietly, as Serena looked at her in surprise. "They told me when I went to talk to them about Chuck and Blair. I didn't want to say it because…I thought it was too personal. But you might as well know."

"What does that mean, they're monitoring it?" Nate asked. "Just in case, or because it's probably lost?"

When neither Serena nor Lily answered, Dan decided to. "It's probably lost."

"Oh," was all Nate could say. He didn't know this baby, not like he knew Chuck and Blair, so he couldn't mourn for it the way he would Chuck and Blair if they died, but there was something terribly tragic about a baby dying before it even had the chance to be alive. And he couldn't imagine the way Blair felt, expecting to become a mother and then having that taken away from her, from her own body.

"Why did this all happen?" Serena asked. "What did they do to deserve this?"

"They didn't," Dan answered. "They didn't doing anything to deserve this. But there are always those ready to cause the loss of another for their own gain."

Serena almost smiled. "You sound like a writer."

"I wonder why," Rufus said, almost proudly despite the sad circumstances.

"We need to figure out who did this," Serena said, sounding stronger now, and more determined. "We can't let them get away with this. If they survive, they could try again."

Nate nodded. "Exactly. We have to find out."

"How?" Lily asked.

"There has to be a motive. We have to think of anyone who might have a motive against Chuck and Blair."

Everyone thought for a moment.

"Russell," Nate suggested.

"But he's in jail," Dan pointed out.

"Still, someone else could have done it under his orders."

"It doesn't seem likely."

Nate shrugged. "He's the only one who's tried to kill them before."

"Juliet," Dan said.

Serena shook her head vigorously. "No, Juliet would never try to hurt them. She only wanted to hurt me because of Ben, and that gave her a motive. With Chuck and Blair, she has no motive. And she would never kill anyone. What about Vanessa?"

"Vanessa? She would never kill anyone, either!" Rufus said.

"She helped Juliet, though, and she had no real motive! Plus, we have to remember that this person may have done it in the heat of the moment, and they may not have realized how much damage it would do." Serena pointed out.

"Oh, yeah, because I take brake fluid out of people's cars all the time when I'm mad at them, and then don't expect them to crash." Dan said sarcastically.

"There is no way it was Vanessa." Nate said firmly.

"Fine, then who?"

The argument went on and on, but no one could seem to think of anyone who would actually want to kill Chuck and Blair. Nate's mind wandered to right before he had seen the crash, when the limo driver had said that he thought he was taking Nate to the Upper East Side. Why had he thought that? Normally he wouldn't dwell on something like that, but something about it felt off, and after what had happened it was best to give everything that seemed odd a second thought, in case it was a clue. Nate remembered telling the driver when he had called that he was going to the airport. Of course, the driver could have forgotten, or….or he could have gotten in the wrong limo. It was a simple mistake. When they had went down to the garage, there had been two cars, one for Blair and one for him.

"_I have a car waiting for me downstairs."_

"_Me too." _

As Nate remembered these words, he felt like his world had stopped. His head was spinning. He opened his mouth to speak a few times, but no words would come out. He had gotten in the wrong limo. That missing brake fluid had been meant for him. That car had been meant for him. That _crash_ had been meant for him.

"Guys," he said, but only Dan seemed to hear him, "guys, stop. I just realized…we're trying to figure out the wrong thing. We're not trying to figure out who had a motive to kill Chuck and Blair, we're trying to figure out who wanted to kill m-"

"-Jack?" Lily suggested, not having heard Nate, although Dan was now looking at Nate with his mouth open, his head spinning too. "He always seems to be behind these kinds of things."

"Did someone say my name?" came a voice from behind them, and they all whipped around to see exactly who they feared it would be.

**AN: I'm in a rush and don't have time to post who reviewed and stuff today but I'll try to do the ones for last chapter and this one in the next chapter. I noticed a lot of people have been alerting the story and stuff but not reviewing, and I would really appreciate it if you would review…it doesn't take very long and it really makes my day. Thanks! **


	4. Nightmare

**Chapter 4 **

After spending the afternoon walking around the city, Chuck found himself at Lily's penthouse. He didn't know where else to go. He didn't want to be alone at the Empire. All throughout his walking, he could hear a strange beeping in his ears. It sounded like the heart monitor, but that was impossible. He was far away from it by now. He thought it must just be another side effect of the drugs.

"Charles!" Lily exclaimed from the kitchen when chuck walked in. "What a surprise!"

But she didn't look surprised at all.

"Before I forget, I picked up your prescription," Lily said, pointing to a container on the counter.

"Prescription?" Chuck asked.

"For the pain from the crash. You didn't suffer any lasting injuries, but the doctors thought you were likely to have bruises and such that needed pain medication. Take one a day."

Chuck nodded and took the bottle, intending to see what medication it was, but instead of letters there was just a jumble of symbols on it. He looked up at Lily and opened his mouth to ask her about it, but decided against it at the last minute. He didn't want Lily to think he was crazy. Maybe the medicine affected his vision?

He felt as if he was in a dream. Nothing was really in focus, and he felt kind of…detached. Not only could he not feel the car that had hit him, but he couldn't really feel the pill bottle in his hands, and he couldn't feel it when he ran his hands through his hair. Lily was cooking some sort of soup with Rufus, but Chuck couldn't smell a thing. And when Lily offered Chuck a taste of it, Chuck couldn't taste it.

"It's a little bland," Chuck said, hoping that that was the reason he couldn't taste it, but knowing he was only lying to himself.

"I think it needs more celery," Rufus said, and Lily grabbed a knife to start chopping some.

"Chuck?" Blair said in surprise as she walked in. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see Lily," Chuck said. "What are you doing here? Did you talk to Louis?"

"I came to see Serena…she said she was going to be hanging out here today. And yes, I did."

"And…?" Chuck said, starting to feel excitement at the prospect of having a family again, but also worried that he had talked her out of it.

"And nothing," Blair said. "I told him, and that was that."

"He wasn't mad?" Chuck asked in disbelief. "He didn't demand to be able to see his child?"

Blair shrugged. "He didn't want to cause a scandal by having a baby with a woman he wasn't marrying. We'll just pretend it's yours."

"Okay," Chuck said slowly, not knowing how he felt about this. He wanted so badly for the baby to be his, but it wasn't. And he didn't think anyone should not know their father, or have their father be ashamed of him. But it was Blair and Louis' decision, in the end, and he had to respect that. He was getting all he wanted. Why was he complaining?

But it all seemed too good to be true. It seemed too easy, and once again it seemed like a dream. In dreams, there were always things that couldn't be explained. He always brushed them off, and only when he realized how nothing matched up he would finally wake up. But he knew that something didn't feel right now, and he wasn't waking up. He was still there.

"Can we talk?" Chuck asked softly, intending to ask Blair if she felt strange too.

"Of course," she said. "Let's just go to Eric's old room."

Chuck nodded and turned to tell Lily where they were going, but something stopped him.

Lily was chopping the celery with a large knife when she suddenly changed. Her face started to contort, and change, and suddenly she was dressed as a doctor, except she wasn't even Lily anymore, she was a man, and she was holding a needle and bloody bandages. She stared at Chuck for a moment.

Then, just as quickly, she changed back into Lily, chopping celery.

Chuck stumbled back and Blair clutched his arm.

"Did you see that?" Blair whispered.

Chuck nodded, his face white. Though the dreamlike qualities were still there, the world started to twist in front of him and he felt this dream become a nightmare.

**AN: Yes, the chapter's really short, and not my favorite….but the Chuck chapters will usually be shorter. They need to match up time-wise with the other chapters and I have to save some of his story for later, so only a certain amount of stuff can happen in each Chuck chapter. I've been updating very often because I'm trying to get all 19 chapters out before gossip girl comes back on, but I don't see that happening. It'll probably take another week or two after that, and I hope you'll stick with me until then. By the way, chapter 18 will not be a regular even chapter and will be like the odd chapters (since it's the last chapter before chapter 19, which is just the epilogue). **

**Thanks for… **

**Reviewing: Manhattanacmxoxo, B, mel087, Liya, Manhattanacmxoxo (To respond to your review, kind of), pure-simple-adoration, and Drawn **

**Story Alert: Sammieeeeex, gossipgirllover123, Ollie.x3, Natty0, pure-simple-adoration, midst, RauhlPrincess, and tinydancer101 **

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**(There are some repeats because these are for 2 chapters) **

**Please please review! **


	5. Secrets and Schemes

**Chapter 5-Secrets and Schemes **

**Ivy **

Ivy paced Grand Central Station, phone in hand. She wasn't quite sure where to go next. She didn't want to go back to Florida, but she wasn't sure if Los Angeles was a good idea either. What would happen if she was in a movie, and the Van der Woodsens saw it and recognized her? They could track her down, or find out the truth. Also, what if she met people in Hollywood who remembered her as Charlie Rhodes from the parties she'd been to in New York? Being an actress seemed out of the question now that she had lived a double life. What name would she go by if she was famous? Should she make up a completely new stage name? No, Ivy thought, she'd had enough names. But then what should she do? Where would she go?

She'd been prepared to play Charlie for the rest of her life…how could she go back to her old life after all of that sparkle and glamour? And how could she go back to not having a family? She might be able to keep the money…but then again, the van der Woodsens would probably track her down, they would be worried about her, so she may not have to leave at all….but she had too. She had caused too much damage. She had hurt-maybe even _killed_-innocent people, all because she had been too worried about herself. And what about what she had told Rufus? She had said that she was the fraud…did he know? Had he figured out who she was? Would he tell Lily?

There was so much Ivy didn't know….the only thing she did know was that she had screwed up badly, worse than she ever had before.

Ivy jumped when her phone rang, and it almost slipped out of her clammy hands as she took a deep, shaky breath and answered it.

"Hello?"

"What the hell is going on?" Carol's voice hissed at her from the other end.

Ivy sighed and closed her eyes. "I messed up, Carol."

"What did you do? Remember, if you let our secret get out, you're going down with me."

"Serena's friends are in the hospital, and it's all my fault. I told gossip girl where they were, and if I hadn't, the paparazzi would never have chased them until the crashed…what if they die…?"

"Ivy, I don't care if you hired a hitman yourself, I just need to know that my family is still in the dark."

"How can you say that? I don't want their deaths on my hand. I don't want them to die."

"I don't want anyone to die, either, Ivy. But we are not friends. I don't care what you do, as long as they think you're Charlie. Do they?"

"I don't know…I told Rufus I was a fraud."

"And why in the world would you do that?"

Suddenly Ivy felt very stupid. "I felt bad. Fooling these people, I mean. Hurting them."

"No one was keeping you there, Charlie. You didn't have to stay."

"And now?"

"Now you have to stay, at least until my family is sure that you're Charlie. I don't want any doubt in their minds. Did you tell anyone anything else?"

"No, that's it. I just left after that."

"Good. Now, to fix this, you have to go back and act like nothing is wrong. Maybe Rufus will forget about it. If anyone asks about it, make something up. You're an actress. You should be good at that. That's why I hired you."

"Okay," Ivy said, tired. "I'll go back."

"Call me with an update later this week."

"I'm sorry, Carol," Ivy said, and hung up, feeling like she had a lot more apologies to make. What had she been thinking, coming back here and pretending to be someone else? How could she trick people she cared about? How could she have hurt so many people?

She was trapped now. She had to stay, at least until she fixed her mistake. She wasn't sure how continuing to pretend to be someone else would reverse her mistake of doing it in the first place, but she had to try. But as soon as she made sure the Van der Woodsens still thought she was Charlie, and checked if Chuck and Blair were okay, she was leaving. She couldn't do this anymore. She was going to go far, far, away from the Upper East Side that had affected her like poison, just like Carol had said it would do to her daughter, turning everything good in her to bad, turning her from a nice girl who just wanted a family into a phony who was only interested in protecting herself. There was still time to change, she hoped. She had spent so much of her life either wanting to be or pretending to be someone she wasn't. It was time to stop playing to part and time to start being Ivy Dickens, and then maybe, finally, hopefully, she could start fresh and be good again.

Ivy put her phone back in her bag and felt her hand brush up against something she didn't remember having there. She took it out curiously and saw that it was a napkin, with a phone number and a name on it. _Georgina._ The one girl who had seen through her from the start, because she had been a liar just like Ivy. The girl who had asked her to call if she needed help in her schemes. And Ivy had never needed help like she did now.

Well, if the whole being good thing didn't work out, at least she still had that.

**Dan **

Nate seemed to barely notice that Jack was there. He had just gotten up and left, and everyone had been so preoccupied with Jack's arrival that they hadn't noticed. Everyone, that is, except Dan.

Dan didn't think his presence would be much missed, either, and in any case he wasn't particularly interested in hearing about whatever terrible thing Jack was up to now. He was much more interested in who had tried to kill Chuck and Blair, and frankly, he didn't have the energy to figure out what Jack's scheme was this time, either. So he followed Nate out. Nate had just realized something about the attempted murder, Dan knew it, and he had to find out what it was. If he couldn't help Chuck and Blair, maybe he could at least avenge the harm that had come to them and make sure it wouldn't continue.

"What's wrong?" Dan asked Nate once they were in the hall. "What were you trying to say back there?"

Nate shook his head, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. "Nothing. Just forget about it."

Dan looked at him incredulously. "If you know something, Nate, it's your responsibility to tell it to us. You can't just keep it to yourself. We need to help Chuck and Blair."

"It's not about Chuck and Blair," Nate said, sounding irritated. "It's about me, and I'd like to keep it to myself. That's my decision."

"Is this about me making you half a character?" Dan asked. "Are you still mad about that? Because I wasn't trying to be rude, when I first wrote about that character I barely knew you-"

"It's not about that," Nate insisted. "And as for Chuck and Blair, there's been a mistake. I just talked to the police on the phone, and they've investigated the car. It wasn't the brake fluid after all. It was the paparazzi. So I think we should concentrate our efforts on taking down gossip girl and supporting Chuck and Blair and stop talking about this ridiculous fake murder scheme."

"There's no way you had time to talk to the police before I came out here," Dan said suspiciously.

"It was a short phone call," Nate shrugged.

"I don't believe you," Dan said.

"Whatever, man. The investigation is closed. I'm going to go tell you others. If I were you, I'd stop worrying about it and put it out of my mind."

"I'm not just going to forget about it if there's any chance someone is after Chuck and Blair."

Nate sighed. "Then whatever you do, please don't mention it to Blair if you go to visit her. It'll only upset and scare her for no reason, and we need her to recover if we want that baby to live and her health to return."

Dan wanted to argue, but decided against it and nodded. He only wanted what was best for Blair too, which was also why he had to make sure she was protected. And he was going to figure out a way to do that, no matter what Nate said.

**Rufus **

"Jack!" Lily exclaimed and jumped up, a hand fluttering to her chest. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Yes," Rufus said coldly, standing up too. "What _are_ you doing here?"

"Because my nephew is in the hospital and I'm family," Jack said, seeming unfazed by the bad welcomes he was getting. "What's so wrong about wanting to check if my only living relative is okay? He's not dead yet, is he?"

"Nothing," Serena said, ignoring Jack's last comment. "If that's the only reason you were here. But you always have some sort of hidden agenda."

"No hidden agenda," Jack said, holding up his hands in innocence.

"How did you get here so quickly?" Lily asked, her eyes narrowed. "The crash only happened a few hours ago, and I know that it takes much longer than that to get to New York from Australia…"

"I was in the area," Jack shrugged.

"Why?" Rufus asked, wondering if maybe Lily was right and Jack did have something to do with the attempted murder. After all, what are the odds that Jack would be in the city on the same night his nephew was in a car crash that was meant to kill him when he lived in a different continent? Especially when Jack was an evil, scheming man who had done nothing but try to steal Bass industries when it came to Chuck, as Lily had told him? He had only ever hurt Chuck, so what good could he be coming here to do now?

"I was doing business," Jack said shortly. "Enough chitchat. Where is he?"

Jack looked around, as if he expected Lily, Rufus, and Serena to be hiding him.

"Generally, when someone gets into a serious car accident, they're in a hospital room," Serena said.

Jack smirked. "Go ahead, give me all the snark you want, it's not going to stop me from seeing my nephew."

"How did you even know about the crash?" Lily asked.

"I got a call," Jack said calmly. "Apparently you didn't pick up when they first called you. Guess you're not mother of the year. Maybe I should have stayed his guardian."

"I may not be the best mother in the world, but at least I love him," Lily said fiercely.

Jack put his hand to his chest in mock horror. "You think I don't love him?" he cried dramatically.

Serena rolled her eyes. "Will you just make this easier for us and tell us what you're up to? Does everything have to be so dramatic?"

"You still haven't answered my question," Jack said, ignoring her. "Where is he and when can I see him?"

"First of all, that's two questions, second of all, we already and answered your first question, and third of all, you never even asked your second question so there's no need to blame us for still not having answered it."

Jack shrugged. "Regardless, I want to see him. If you don't tell me how and when that can happen, I'll just go to the nurse. I'm family, she can't keep me out."

"Why do you want to see him so badly?" Rufus asked.

"I've never seen a dead body before," Jack grinned.

Lily gasped and looked near tears. "How can you say-no respect for….don't even care about-"

Rufus glared at Jack. "What do you think you're doing, saying things like that? You can hurt people, you know. Your last living family member could die, and all you have to say is that you want to see a dead body?"

Lily let out a sob.

"I was just joking, relax," Jack grumbled. "Lils, didn't mean to upset you. Please accept my sincerest apologies."

"I wish you would take this seriously!" Lily said through her tears. She tried to say more, but seemed unable to. Overcome with grief and worry, she walked away to sit down in a different part of the room. With one last glare at Jack, Serena followed her, leaving Rufus alone with Jack. Jack moved to leave, still smirking, but Rufus grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

"Do you think you could have a little consideration for my family?" Rufus asked. "I don't believe that you care for Chuck's well being, but I don't really care for him either, and you don't see me walking around telling people I want him to die."

"Don't be unreasonable, Stewart, I never said I _wanted_ him to die," Jack said. "What, you do?"

"It's Rufus," Rufus said coldly. "And no, I do not, but I don't care about him like my family does. But I care about them, and I don't want to see them hurt. And you may as well have said you wanted him dead…please, just whatever you're here to do, don't bother my family."

Jack looked amused. "Are you actually begging? This is too good."

"I'm not begging," Rufus said, irritated. "I'd call it more of a threat."

"No, I'm pretty sure that was begging," Jack said with a smile. "You're not a very threatening person, Rufus. Not like me. What are you going to do to me, write a song about how evil I am?"

"No, but I can have Lily press charges about what happened at the opera a few years ago."

"That's ancient history, you can't hold that against me anymore," Jack said, trying to act nonchalant, but Rufus could tell he was a little nervous.

"Oh, can't I?" Rufus said. "Just remember, leave my family alone. Someone could die here, and you're acting like it's a joke."

"But your family involves Chuck, doesn't it? And being related by blood, rather than marriage, makes me a little more in control over what happens to them than you. I'm afraid I can't stay away from them."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I make the rules here. You can tell the cops what you want, but I still have the power to make decisions that will change your family forever."

"Oh yeah, like what?"

Rufus smiled sinisterly. "You'll see," he said, and turned and walked away.

Feeling confused and not quite sure he had gotten his point across, Rufus walked over to Serena and Lily.

"What were you and Jack talking about?" Serena asked, holding her mother's hand.

"We had a conversation about his disregard for others," Rufus said. "And I tried to find out what he's up to."

"So, what is he up to?" Serena raised an eyebrow.

Rufus paused. "I don't know," he said. With Jack, he never knew.

**Nate **

Nate watched Dan walk away. He didn't like lying to him, but he didn't know what else to do. He didn't want to have to tell everyone the truth; he knew that once he did, everyone would act different around him. They would all act scared around him, and always try to protect him, and Nate knew that if they did, he would start to feel scared and like he needed protecting too. But the truth was, he didn't need their protection. In fact, he was better off without it. The less people that knew, the better. That way whoever had tried to kill him wouldn't know he was looking for him, and he may be easier to find. Besides, the last thing Nate wanted was the truth getting out to Gossip Girl and all of New York finding out about it. He would tell his grandfather, and talk to the police. That was plenty.

By the time Nate walked back into the waiting room, he had completely forgotten about Jack. He was standing alone right where Nate had left everyone, but the others were nowhere to be seen. Maybe they had left, or gone to sit somewhere else, or maybe they had gone to see Blair. In any case, Nate didn't feel like looking for them.

"Good to see you, Nathaniel," Jack said as Nate walked by.

"Can't say the same for you," Nate said without even looking at Jack, and decided to go see Blair. He hadn't seen her since the crash, and he was worried about her. He talked to a doctor, who showed him to her room. When he walked inside, Blair was lying down. Nate thought for a moment that she might be asleep, but then she opened her eyes and looked at him. She looked back at the ceiling as Nate walked over to her and sat down.

There was silence for a moment.

"I wanted to name it Holly," Blair said. "Or maybe Audrey. For a girl. For a boy I was going to let Louis choose. Even though I was going to end it…I wanted him to choose his own son's name."

Nate nodded. "Those are great names."

More silence.

And suddenly she was in his arms, crying.

"What's going to happen to us, Nate?" she cried. "I can't lose them."

Nate nodded. "I know."

Blair looked up at him. "I know you do, Nate. You must be worried sick about Chuck, just like I am. I know he's like a brother to you. You need each other. But there's no way you can know what it's like to have a tiny son or daughter that needs you to survive, and then to have it die in your own body."

"It's not dead yet," Nate whispered.

"It may as well be. Same with Chuck. They're going to leave us, Nate."

Nate was silent.

"I thought you were all going to die," he said softly after a pause, his voice trembling slightly. "When I saw the car crash, I thought I had lost everything. And it was even worse when I saw you two. There was so much blood, and you looked so vulnerable…I thought I had lost you. I didn't know what to do. You three were dying right in front of me."

Blair sniffed. "I'd forgotten you were there…" she said. "That must have been awful.

Nate nodded. "But you didn't die," he continued, his voice stronger now. "You lived, Blair. And your baby and Chuck aren't dead yet. That's more than I could've imagined a few hours ago. No one's died. They've held on for this long, who's to say that they can't hold on longer? They can still live, Blair, like you did. They still have a chance. Things have already gotten better. Don't lose hope yet."

Blair nodded and leaned into him again, crying more. She didn't say anything, but she didn't need to. Nate knew that Blair understood, and that she would keep hoping, even though it was hard. Nate didn't know what he would do without Chuck either. He couldn't even remember a life without him. They had been best friends since they were kids and he still felt like Serena, Chuck, and Blair were his family.

He remembered a time, long ago, when they were all much younger, Chuck had fallen off a bridge over a river in Nate's vacation home. It hadn't been a very high one at all, but Blair had panicked, and had gone to get Bart. Nate remembered her crying and tugging his sleeve, pointing to the water. It had taken Bart a moment to realize what was going on, as he had been trying to ignore the eight-year-old Blair, but once he did he had immediately taken action. Nate still remembered the terrified look on his face and the sight of him jumping into the river in his suit to save Chuck. Nate had given Blair a hug to make her feel better as Serena watched the water with wide eyes. Blair had clung to Nate, crying, until Bart had dragged Chuck out of the water. Chuck had been angry, saying he was fine and knew what he was doing, that he could take care of himself and didn't need saving. Bart had been even madder, telling Chuck not to be so reckless and be more careful. Blair had cried and stayed with Nate the whole time, until Chuck had stalked up to her, sopping wet, and demanded if she had been the one to tell his father. Blair had nodded, and Chuck had glared at her and walked off. Blair ran after him, and Nate couldn't remember anything past that, except that they had evidently made up, as Nate had many more memories of all of them hanging out together that year.

Before, there had only been only been thing s like rivers, jungle gyms, and who would be Serena's new stepfather to worry about. Now there were car crashes, murder plots, and Jack Bass schemes. In the midst of it all, Nate felt as if someone was trying to tear their family apart, when all Nate wanted to do was return to the old times. He held Blair, who cried until she fell asleep, and even though Chuck's life was in danger, and someone wanted to kill Nate, and Blair might lose her baby, Nate felt peaceful in that moment, because it felt like old times, holding Blair and pretending that everything was alright.

**AN: I hope you all enjoyed the return of Charlie! I don't think I'm going to include Diana in this story and I'm probably going to ignore that scene with them at the end of 5x10, just because I have no idea what that was about. Jack is definitely there to stir up trouble though. **

**Thanks for… **

**Reviewing: Liya **

**Story Alert: Babygurl09 and BambiRosie **

**I've been really disappointed lately with the number of reviews, so please make my day and review. Thanks! **


	6. Realization

**Chapter 6 **

Chuck closed his eyes. He had seen enough, and he didn't want to see anything else. The world was blurry and twisting in front of his eyes, and even when he closed them he still felt it. What was going on?

He held onto Blair tight and led her away.

"Something strange it going on," he said in a low voice once they got to Eric's room, opening his eyes again. "I don't know what it is, but whatever it is, it's not good."

"I know," Blair agreed. "All day I've been feeling strange, and sometimes I start to feel dizzy, and everything just starts to look….fuzzy. And sometimes I feel like I'm falling." Blair paused and looked at him with wide eyes. "Do I sound crazy?"

"If you do, then so do I," Chuck responded. "I've been feeling the same way. And do things sometimes….flicker? Like you're half awake and in some sort of nightmare?"

"Yes!" Blair exclaimed. "And let's not forget what just happened with Lily!"

"It's like something out of a bad horror movie," Chuck agreed. "I would laugh if it wasn't really happening to me. I feel like we're in The Twilight Zone."

"I hate that show," Blair said faintly, "but you're right. Chuck, _what is happening to us?_"

Her voice was desperate, and her lip trembled.

"I don't know," Chuck said quietly, "but at least we have each other."

Blair nodded, a tear falling down her face. She kissed his cheek and tried to smile. "You're right."

But Chuck wasn't paying attention. He stared at the wall, his mouth slightly open.

Blair frowned. "Chuck?"

"I can't feel it," Chuck said softly.

"Can't feel what?"

"When you kissed me just now, I…I couldn't feel it at all."

"Oh." Blair looked a little offended.

"No, I don't mean I don't love you!" Chuck said quickly. "It's just that I couldn't feel your lips at all. I can't seem to feel anything. It's like I have no senses beyond sound and sight."

Blair touched her lips. "I didn't notice before," she said, "but you're right." She hesitated. "It's probably just the medicine."

"We can't keep blaming everything on the drugs, Blair, I don't think we would be up and walking around if they gave us drugs that were so strong they made us see members of my family turn into different people."

Blair looked helpless. "Then what is it? What's making us see these things? I can't tell reality from imagination anymore. I never know what's really happening."

"Like a dream…" Chuck said slowly, coming back to the comparison he had made earlier, but this time realizing that it may actually be less of a comparison than a reality. "Blair, what if this _is_ a dream? What if we're dreaming? What if we never left the hospital? What if we're-"

"Dead?" Blair finished for him faintly.

Chuck was quiet for a moment. Was she right? Were they? But something didn't seem right. He thought that maybe he'd be able to think clearer if he could just get that stupid beeping out of his head…

"That's it!" he exclaimed.

"What?" Blair asked hopelessly.

"We're not dead, Blair! We're still in the hospital, but we're not dead! We're unconscious, in a coma! That's why there's beeping! Don't you hear it, Blair? It sounds just like a heart monitor…I thought that maybe it was my imagination but what if that's what it really is?"

Blair looked at him and opened her mouth then closed it. She looked down at her feet for a moment.

"I don't hear any beeping, Chuck," she said quietly, not meeting his eyes, and Chuck felt his world end.

**AN: Sorry for the short chapter! **

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	7. Bad News

**Chapter 7- Bad News **

**Lily **

Lily had lost track of time, but it felt like years later that the doctor finally told her she could see Chuck. He was only allowed one visitor at a time, and only immediate family. Lily wondered what might have happened if she hadn't adopted Chuck, and they hadn't counted his late father's wife of a few months as immediate family. She shuddered to think of Chuck all alone, and having to explain to the doctor that Chuck had no family. She wondered if they would have let Jack in before her.

Lily felt her headache worsen when she thought of Jack. As if the car crash and the injuries it had caused weren't bad enough, now they had to deal with whatever Jack had up his sleeve. Whatever it was, Lily was sure it was bad, and she didn't think any of them were ready to deal with it at the moment. Lily just hoped it wouldn't affect Chuck or Blair's health.

She found herself at the door far before she was ready. It was strange, because she had waited for what felt like weeks to see Chuck, and now finally at his door the last thing she wanted was to open it. She was scared of what she might find. She knew he was still alive, but she also knew his bad health wouldn't feel real until she saw how he looked. She couldn't bring herself to reach her hand out and open the door, but the decision was made for her in a moment as the doctor next to her opened it and gestured for her to go inside. Lily took a deep breath and walked into the room.

He didn't look that different, Lily decided after looking at him for a moment. If you ignored the tubes, and the hospital bed, and the pale face, he could be sleeping, instead of unconscious. They were pretty similar, right? But Lily knew that the fact that he was unconscious and not asleep made all the difference. He wasn't asleep, and as much as she wanted to pretend he was, she couldn't.

"He's in a coma," the doctor explained. He looked grim, and Lily wondered whether he minded it, telling the families in the hospital bad news all of the time. No doubt he had told countless people that their husbands, sons, sisters, parents, and friends had died. He had also brought good news before, but Lily couldn't imagine he would look this grim if he were. She wondered if he cared at all that her son was dying, or if Chuck was just another person taking up room in the hospital. Suddenly she hated him, loathed him for being the person telling her bad news. She hated that he did this all the time without any understanding of the pain he was giving people. She hated him for not being able to save Chuck, and even though she knew none of it was his fault, it felt better with someone to blame.

"But you can wake him up, can't you?" Lily asked softly.

"If I could, he would be awake by now. Of course, there's always the possibility that he'll wake up on his own. It happens a lot, usually within a few days, but the longer it takes, the less likely he'll ever wake up."

"So how's it looking?"

"He's not looking good, Mrs. Humphrey. As I told you earlier, he's lost a lot of blood. And he hasn't been very responsive to what we've done to save him. Most of his bodily injuries are severe, but can be healed with time and doctors. However, he suffered head injuries in addition to these other injuries, and they can affect his brain."

"Affect his brain how?" Lily asked urgently. "Affect his memory?" She had seen soap operas where people had suffered from amnesia, but she had never thought those things actually happened. Not on the upper east side, at least. And certainly not to her adopted son.

"No," the doctor responded slowly, and gave Lily a sort of pitying look.

"Is his brain damaged?" Lily asked. "Will he act differently, think differently?"

"No…" the doctor said again, and Lily had to restrain herself from slapping his pitying face. Did she really have to ask? Why couldn't he just tell her?

"….the brain is damaged, but it wouldn't affect that too much…" the doctor continued.

"Then what?" Lily asked.

"Mrs. Humphrey, your son's brain is extremely unresponsive. Worringly so. We've been able to detect some activity, but it's gotten lower….your son will soon be brain dead."

Lily gasped and sat down. She grabbed Chuck's hand and held it.

"He can still wake up," the doctor said quickly. "Don't give up on him yet. But at the same time, please don't get your hopes up."

He watched her for a moment, then walked to the door. "Come find me if you have any questions. I'll let you know if there are any updates. I'll leave you alone to visit with him."

Visit with what? Lily wanted to yell, but restrained herself. This was hardly her son here, with all of the tubes, with a brain that didn't even know she was there. Her son was almost gone. What was there left to visit with?

"Wait!" she called and ran up to the doctor before she left, pulling out her wallet. "I'll pay you, my family has plenty of money, we need you to concentrate completely on waking him up, we'll hire the best doctors in the country, try new procedures, anything-"

"Mrs. Humphrey," the doctor interrupted gently, pushing Lily's hands away. "Please. We're doing everything we can. I don't want your money. If you'd like to donate, you can do that, but it's not going to save your son."

With that, he left the room, and Lily was forced to realize, just like she had many times before, that money couldn't solve everything.

**Nate **

Nate didn't want to leave Blair, but he was thirsty, and he didn't think she would mind it if he left for a few minutes. She was finally asleep, which was much appreciated by the doctor who had come in a few minutes ago. She looked like she could have hugged Nate for getting Blair to sleep; Nate knew the doctors had been trying to get her to rest for hours for the sake of her own health and the baby's.

Nate got up and left the room as silently as he could, and nearly bumped into someone in the hallway as he turned away from the door.

"Oh, sorry-Lily?" Nate asked in surprise, as he recognized the person he had bumped into.

"Oh, hi, Nate," Lily said weakly, trying to smile but not quite succeeding. She was holding a tissue and dapping at her tearstained face, and she hastily put it away and tried to hide her tears. "What are you doing here?"

"I was talking to Blair," Nate said slowly, unsure as to whether he should ask what was wrong, and unsure if he even wanted to know.

"How is she?" Lily said suddenly. "I've been so worried about Charles, I almost forgot about her. Is that terrible?"

"No," Nate said gently. "You may only be his adoptive mother, but I know you love him as a son. It's okay to be upset. And it's understandable to forget about other things when you're worried."

Lily nodded, seeming grateful for the reassurance.

"She's fine," Nate added, not sure if he was being entirely truthful. "She's upset, and worried just like the rest of us, but I think she'll be okay as long as the baby is. And Chuck, of course."

At the mention of Chuck's name, Lily took out another tissue and dabbed at her face.

"Then I wouldn't bet on her being alright yet," Lily said sadly.

"What do you mean?" Nate asked slowly. "What happened? Is it about Chuck?"

Lily sighed. "Nate, you've always been a great friend of Charles'. I just want to thank you for always being there for him….well, maybe not always, but enough. I'm sure he really appreciated you, and I know he loved you like a brother."

"Why are you speaking in the past tense?" Nate asked. "He's not….he didn't….?"

The unspoken question hung in the air, and Lily didn't seem to want to grasp it. She just looked at him for a moment with tears in her eyes.

"His body is," she said finally. "But the Chuck you knew…"

"Is he brain dead?" Nate asked quickly.

"Not quite. But almost," Lily whispered, her shoulders shaking as she started to cry harder. I'm sorry, I can't-" she started, but was unable to finish. She looked at Nate for a moment. "Someone has to tell Blair," she said. She shook her head. "I just can't bring myself to…but she has to know…" Her lip trembled and she hurried past Nate before he could say anything.

Nate wasn't sure he would be able to say anything anyways. Hearing the worst news of his life didn't exactly get him in the mood for conversation. Nate was usually laid back: he was the kind of guy to wait things out and take everything in stride, but this he couldn't handle. He couldn't be laid back when his friends were in danger. He had to deal with a car crash that didn't involve just one, but two of his friends, the same day that he found out about a possible murder plot against him, and worst of all, he knew that he should be the one in the hospital, almost brain dead, instead of two of his best friends. He felt incredibly guilty, even though he knew it had happened by chance. He also felt incredibly angry, because someone had caused this, and now lives were at stake. Did they understand what they had done? Did they realize what damage they had caused?

And in addition to all of that, he knew that Lily was right, and someone had to tell Blair. He also knew that that someone was going to have to be him. He couldn't bring himself to make someone else do it, but he didn't like the thought of having to see Blair's reaction to this news or even the thought of having to say it out loud. Still, he knew he had to.

Nate sighed and went back to Blair's room. He faced the door when he got in and tried to close it slowly and quietly, but a voice interrupted him.

"Hey," Blair said from her bed, and Nate whipped around, his heart beating fast. "Where'd you go?" Blair frowned.

"I was getting a bottle of water," Nate said.

Blair looked confused. "Where is it?"

"I…" Nate paused. He'd forgotten that he'd never gotten his water. "I already drank it."

Blair raised an eyebrow. "Are you hiding something from me?" Blair asked softly. "I may just be being paranoid, but do you know something that I don't? You're acting strangely."

He was going to tell her. He had to, and he had to now. He had hoped he wouldn't have to do it so soon, but he knew it was now or never. If he couldn't build up the courage to do it now, he would never be able to. "I was talking with Lily," he said.

"Did she have any news about Chuck?" Blair asked quickly, sitting up.

Nate nodded slowly.

"Well, what is it?"

Nate couldn't stand to crush her hopeful attitude, but he had to. And there was no beating around the bush, either: just the truth. "He's almost brain dead."

There was silence in the room for a moment.

"Oh," was all she said.

"I'm sorry," Nate responded.

"Don't be sorry," Blair said quickly. "He's not dead yet. I won't let him be,"

"Blair-"

"Don't," Blair said. She had a strange, sad smile on her face. "Get the doctor, Nate. I'm going for a walk."

Nate looked at her in surprise, speechless. Whatever reaction he had expected, it wasn't this.

"I'm going to save him, Nate," she smiled.

**Blair **

A few nurses helped Blair to the chair next to his bed, and they couldn't hide their doubtful looks from her. She knew they thought this was a bad idea, but surprisingly Nate had supported it, and they had let her go. She was an adult, after all, and could do what she wanted, and she told them that Nate knew her better than most and if he said it was okay, it was. It was only her mental health they were worried about here, and Blair had assured them that it would be good for her to see him. She wondered again why Nate had supported her. She knew he didn't believe her that she could save him. She knew he felt bad for her. Yet he had helped her. Maybe he just understood how much she needed to see Chuck right now.

They were only really supposed to let family members in, but Nate had had Lily talk to them and she had someone convinced them to let her see him. Blair knew Lily and the nurses were only going along with it because they felt bad for her, but Blair didn't mind. At least she got what she wanted.

She made the nurses wait outside while she talked to Chuck. It was to be a short conversation, as it was only one-sided and she wasn't positive Chuck could hear her, but she had to talk to him.

"This is all my fault," Blair said quietly, looking at him, but then forcing herself to look away. She couldn't look at this Chuck. It was too hard. The only way she was going to be able to say what she had to was if she imagined the healthy Chuck right there next to her, instead of the barely alive one."I'm so sorry, Chuck," she continued softly. "I love you, but I went against what I was supposed to do. I can't just leave Louis, he's the father of my child. It wouldn't be fair to this baby to not at least try to fix things with his or her father. And it's not fair to you to expect you to love and raise another man's child. We should've never left in that car together."

Blair took a deep, shuddering breath, willing him to understand. "But don't worry. I'm going to fix this, somehow. I promise. You're going to wake up, Chuck. I just need to do one thing first."

Blair knew what she had to do. She didn't want to do it, but she had to…she had no other choice. She was desperate.

"I won't let you die," she promised, and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. Her hand lingered on his face for a moment, wondering if this was the last time she would kiss him. But then she leaned back and withdrew her hand, and walked out the door. She had something important to do.

**AN: Thanks for… **

**Reviewing: scarlett2u, scarlett2u (on a different chapter), scarlett2u (on another different chapter) RauhlPrincess, asdfghjkl, ElodieBCA, Nerissa1243, Immortalrunes, and Natty0 **

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**Thanks so much for all of the reviews last chapter Please review! **


	8. I'll Never Let You Go

**Chapter 8 **

"No," Chuck said.

"Yes," Blair said gently back. "I don't know if you are, Chuck, but I think I'm…I must be….dead."

"You can't be," Chuck insisted. "No. Then why would you be here?"

"I don't know," Blair sighed. She sat down on Eric's bed. "I don't know what's going on, or what to do about it. But I can't go back out there," she said, gesturing to the door. "I'm too afraid of what I might see."

"Don't change the subject," Chuck said hurriedly. "You're not dead, Blair."

"It was bad enough last time," Blair continued, ignoring Chuck. "I'm terrified."

"I know you are, Blair, and I'm scared too, but we'll figure this out. We just have to figure out where we are and how to get out."

"I know where we are," Blair said.

"You do? Where are we?"

"Hell," Blair whispered. "Why else would such scary things be happening to us? I feel like I'm in a nightmare."

"Me too, which is what makes me think this isn't real at all, and it really is some sort of nightmare."

"Then how am I here too, if it's your nightmare?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's your nightmare too, if that makes any sense. Is it possible for people to be in the same dream?"

"I don't think so. But it is possible for two people to die and-"

"Blair, if you're right, and we are where you say we are, why are we together? Isn't it supposed to be a terrible place? So why would we be put together when all we need to be happy is each other?"

"If you really mean that," Blair said after a pause, "then why are you so desperate to get out? Why can't we just stay here? Things are strange here, and scary, but we'll get through it. We have each other, just like you said. What else do we need? I'm dead, and you're not-don't argue with me because it's true-and yet by some miracle we can still be together. Can't we at least be thankful for that?"

"Because eventually," Chuck said quietly. "They're going to take me off life support. They won't keep me alive forever. And if they get Jack involved, who knows when it will happen. And they'll take you off, too."

"Why can't we just be happy until then?"

"Don't give up just yet, Blair. I know we can save ourselves. It's our minds, and our nightmare. We shouldn't be hiding, terrified, we should be taking action and making decisions. We make the rules here."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we should just be able to imagine something, and it will happen."

"I don't know, Chuck…" Blair said doubtfully.

"Let's just try it," Chuck said. "Please?"

Blair sighed. "Fine."

Neither of them spoke for a long time.

"I don't think it's working," Blair said finally.

"Just keep trying," Chuck said, his eyes closed. "Just imagine yourself finding a way out. Try to wake up."

"I can't, Chuck!" Blair burst out loudly. "Maybe you can, but I can't! I'm dead! It's no use."

"Stop saying that!" Chuck said. "You're not dead, Blair. Just keep trying, I know it will work eventually."

"You denying it isn't making it any easier!" Blair shouted. "And please, stop!"

"Stop what?"

"Trying to get yourself out of here!"

"Why? Don't you want to get out?"

"I don't want you to go," Blair said tearfully. "If you keep trying, and it works, and I'm left here…just please, Chuck…don't leave me here alone."

Chuck was quiet for a moment, and then he took her hands in his. He didn't want to give up on escaping the nightmare, and he wouldn't. But he didn't want to scare Blair either. The reason he was doing this was to save them, and that meant saving Blair too. He would never leave without her, and he needed her to know that.

"I'll never let you go," Chuck whispered.

**AN: Okay, so the story now slightly relates to the title! There will be more references later. Sorry for the short chapter. **

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**Reviewing: ElodieBCA, Liya, and Manhattanacmxoxo **

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	9. Let Him Live

**Chapter 9 **

**Nate **

Nate didn't even know what time and day it was when he left the hospital. He had been there for a long time and had not planned on leaving for a long time, but Lily had suggested that he go home for some rest and a shower. He didn't want to leave Chuck and Blair, but he wasn't helping them any by staying there. And he had to admit that sleeping in his own bed sounded pretty nice.

It felt very strange to go back to The Empire without Chuck. He had been there plenty of times without him, but this time it was different. Chuck wasn't sleeping over Blair's, or a hotel, or anything like that; he was sleeping in a hospital bed, and Nate wasn't sure if he could call a coma sleeping anyways.

After Nate had showered and rested, he wasn't quite ready to go back to the hospital. The police wanted to meet with him, but Nate had been avoiding it. He wasn't ready to go there either. But the murder plot was still on his mind. He needed someone to talk to, someone who wasn't so involved in it all. Someone he cared about who could help him. Someone who wasn't in a coma or about to lose a baby. And he could only think of one person who fit that description.

He was at the Van der Woodsen penthouse before he knew it, and was surprised to hear that Lily and Rufus were home. They were talking on the couch, and they didn't seem to hear Nate come in.

"Well, what do you think she meant by it?" Nate heard Lily say.

"I don't know. I got distracted when you came back from talking with the doctors and she was gone by the time I looked back," Rufus responded.

"That's all she said after? 'I'm the fraud?'" Who was a fraud?

"That's it."

"But Charlie's home now. Didn't she say anything more about it to you?" Charlie was the fraud? What did that mean?

"No, but it worries me. She had no reason to be worried about Max. It definitely wasn't reason enough to send that text to Gossip Girl that made the paparazzi chase Chuck and Blair. She seemed very guilty. Her being a fraud seemed like a big confession." Charlie was the one who sent that blast to Gossip Girl? Because of Max showing up? Was this Nate's fault, then, for putting the idea in her head that the party would get shut down if the paparazzi found out Chuck and Blair were there? No, Nate had to remind himself, this wasn't even about the paparazzi. It was about who wanted to kill him.

"It was probably nothing. She probably meant she's been acting like she fits in here, when she's just a girl from Florida. She's always down on herself for that kind of thing, always worried she doesn't fit in here." Lily seemed to be unconcerned and brushing whatever it was off as nothing, but Rufus seemed much more tense.

"I don't think so," Rufus said, sounding concerned. "I think something else is going on here, something big-"

"Nate!" Lily interrupted him, finally noticing that Nate was in the room. "What a surprise!"

"Hey, Mrs. Humphrey," Nate greeted her, wanting to know more about what they were talking about but deciding it wasn't a good idea to ask. "I was just looking for Charlie. Is she here?"

"Oh, yes, she's in her room," Lily smiled at him.

"Thanks," Nate said. As he walked away, he heard the conversation resume in whispers, but he could no longer hear what they were saying.

So Charlie was the one who sent the blast. And now she was feeling guilty about it, which had made her confess something. But Nate agreed with Lily-her saying she was a fraud probably didn't mean anything. In any case, he could ask her when he saw her. And he would assuage her fears about being the one who had caused the accident. And maybe she could even help him figure out who did.

**Blair **

Blair had gotten a number of strange looks while she had wandered the halls in the bathrobe Serena had brought her, but she hadn't cared. She knew she had to do something, and she had to do it soon, before it was too late. She knew others would be skeptical of her actions, so she hadn't shared them with anyone. But she knew what she was doing could save Chuck, and that was enough for her.

When she got to her destination, she was more than ready to do what she had come there to do. It was empty, and Blair was all alone, which was probably for the best anyways. This was to be a private conversation.

"Hi," Blair started weakly. She cleared her throat. "Hello," she said, stronger now.

"I don't really know the protocol for this. I've prayed before, but never quite like this, and definitely not in a hospital. But I have something to say."

She took a deep, shuddering breath, feeling the tears coming.

"I'm sure you know that Chuck Bass is in a coma," Blair paused, a tear running down her face. "And you know that it's all my fault," she continued, her voice breaking. "I should never have gotten in that car with him. It was a violation of nature, to be with the man who wasn't the father of my child without even trying to make things work with Louis. I cheated on Louis. I was unfaithful to a good man who loved me, who I was going to marry and have a family with. It was awful to take his child away from him without his consent. I was awful. I made a terrible mistake." Blair paused again and sniffed, picturing Chuck in his hospital bed, too calm and too quiet. "And I'm being punished for it. But so is he, and that's not fair. Please, this was my mistake. All he did was love me. Is that really so bad? I'm the one who shouldn't have given in. I'm the one who had him get in that car with me. He should never have been in that crash. So please, _let him live_, and I promise, I'll get back together with Louis, and marry him, so he can be with his child, and I won't let myself give in to Chuck this time. I'll tell him-that I don't love him and-" Blair couldn't continue at this point as she sobbed into her arms, imagining her hurting him like that. But she had to, if she wanted him to live. She didn't have a choice. She tried a few time to keep talking and failed, finally getting words out again on the fourth try. "-and he'll move on. Just, _please_, let him wake up. Let him live, and I'll pay for my mistake in another way-by spending the rest of my life with a man I'll never love like I love Chuck. I don't care if you punish me, just please don't punish Chuck-and please don't punish this baby, either," Blair finished.

She sat there for a long time, thinking about Chuck and her baby, and how it wasn't fair that they were dying when this was her mistake. She had hoped, and she had wished, and she had prayed that they would live, no matter what happened to her-all she could do now was wait.

**Ivy **

"I know your secret," Nate said from the doorway.

Ivy froze. Oh, no. She knew all about what she had done. She was done, she was ruined, the police were going to come after her, Lily and Rufus would never forgive her, and Carol-

"I know you sent the blast about Chuck and Blair to Gossip Girl," Nate continued.

Ivy breathed a sigh of relief. So he didn't know the real secret. But he did know one secret, and it wasn't one Ivy wanted everyone to know about. She sighed. "How did you find out?" she asked.

"I overheard Lily and Rufus talking," Nate explained.

Lily and Rufus were talking about that conversation? Were they also talking about her saying she was a fraud? Did they know? No, Ivy decided, they would have done something by now if they had. But Ivy was going to stay on her guard, just in case.

"It's okay," Nate said, sitting next to her on her bed, mistaking her worry about the Van der Woodsens finding out she was Charlie for guilt for what she had done. "It's not your fault."

"Yes, it is," Ivy said glumly, starting to feel guilty for the whole thing again. "If I hadn't sent that blast, the paparazzi wouldn't have known about Chuck and Blair, and they wouldn't have chased them until they crashed."

"But the paparazzi are the ones who actually chased them. You didn't do that. Sending a blast to Gossip Girl doesn't make you a killer, Charlie."

Ivy looked up in alarm. "They died?"

Nate didn't answer. "The paparazzi isn't what caused the crash," he said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Ivy asked slowly, confused.

"The brake fluid was taken out," Nate said.

"How did that happen?"

"I don't know. Someone must have done it."

"What are you saying, that someone wanted this crash to happen? Someone tried to kill Chuck and Blair?"

Nate was quiet. He seemed to be debating something, but Ivy couldn't be sure what.

"It sure looks like it," he finally said.

"Wow," Ivy said. "That's…not good." She was relieved that she hadn't caused the crash, but still, there was a killer on the loose now, a killer trying to hurt her family and her family's friends, and that was never good news.

"I know."

"Do you have any idea who it could be?"

"No…I wish I did. I don't like the idea of someone walking free when my friends are in the hospital. And I definitely don't like the idea of them being able to hurt someone again."

"Yeah, me neither," Ivy agreed. She paused. "When you were coming in to the party, did you see their limo? Did you see anyone suspicious near the limos or outside of the building just before or during the party?"

"No," Nate says, then seemed to think for a moment. "Yes," he amended suddenly. "I saw Max, remember? What if it was him? He was really mad about me not publishing his story, he could have done it."

"But he didn't hurt you, he hurt Chuck and Blair," Ivy pointed out.

"But maybe he hurt them to hurt me….to send a message or threat to me….I know it sounds strange, but this is the first real lead we have."

"Max may be mean, and he may have blackmailed me, but he's not a cold-blooded killer. He's not crazy. You not publishing his story is not enough of a motive to try to kill Chuck and Blair."

"I don't know," Nate said, sounding doubtful.

"Did you tell the police? They should be the ones handling this, not us. It's not your responsibility to find out who tried to kill your friends, Nate," Ivy said gently. "I'm sure they can help."

"Maybe…I told them, but I have a feeling they won't be much help. I've been avoiding meeting with them."

"Why?"

"I've got a lot of other things on my mind," Nate said simply, and Ivy knew he meant his worrying about Chuck and Blair. "Actually, I should go. I've got to get back to the hospital. But thanks for meeting with me, Charlie. I needed someone to talk this out with."

"Of course," Ivy said, wondering as he walked to the door why he was acting so strangely. He was very jumpy, and it seemed like he wasn't telling her the whole story. Ivy got the feeling he knew something she didn't. But maybe he was just worried about his friends.

"Not yet," Nate said suddenly as he reached the door.

"What?"

"No one's dead yet," Nate said without turning around, answering the question Ivy had asked earlier, and he left without another word. Charlie stared at the space he had just been in for a moment.

She hoped it stayed that way. Even if she hadn't caused this crash, she'd caused enough pain for these people. And she wanted to help Nate figure this out before she left.

Ivy found her mind wandering to her conversation with Max from earlier. It was very odd how he said he had gotten money from someone else…who would pay him, and why?

Maybe Nate was right, and he did do it….but on someone else's orders, someone who did have a motive….

Ivy's stomach grumbled as she thought. She had been avoiding leaving her room because she didn't want to have to deal with Lily and Rufus, but she knew she couldn't stay there forever, and she was starving. But maybe she could still avoid them…she would just have to be quiet and go out to eat.

It turned out to be easier than expected, as Lily and Rufus had left the living room and were nowhere to be seen. Charlie was still careful to be quiet, though.

When she got off the elevator and walked out into the lobby, she saw a police officer talking to the concierge. She was pretty sure it couldn't be for her, but it still scared her to have to walk by him. She held her breath and walked quickly.

"-actually, that's her right there," Ivy heard, and walked faster. They couldn't be talking about her, right? There were other people in the lobby.

"Ms. Rhodes?" Ivy heard and froze, but felt relief that at least he was calling her Ms. Rhodes and not Ms. Dickens. Maybe he was there to question her about the attempted murder, or maybe they had arrested Max for something and wanted to question her about it. They couldn't know….could they?

"Yes?" Ivy answered, slowly turning around.

"I'd like you to come with me, please," the man said, and gestured for her to follow him.

Ivy looked around her, and found a few people staring at her. She sighed and followed him, having no other choice. She just hoped this wouldn't end up on Gossip Girl.

"What is it?" she asked when they had reached the police car. "I don't-What are you doing?"

The cop was putting her hands in handcuffs and opening the back door of the car.

"Excuse me, why are you arresting me? Do you know who I am?" Ivy said, panicking. She didn't know what this was about, but she didn't think it was about her identity, as he had thought she was a Rhodes, and she didn't know what else she was guilty of. Was the real Charlie Rhodes guilty of something?

"Yes, I do," the policeman said, pushing her into the car. "You're Ivy Dickens, a poor girl from Florida who has conned the Van der Woodsen family out of thousands of dollars."

Ivy gaped at him as he gave her an almost smug look.

"And you're about to go to jail for a long, long time," he said, slamming the door in her face.

Ivy sat in complete disbelief for a few moments. She didn't say a word during the car ride, or as she was brought into the station, or even when she was put behind bars. All she could think was that this couldn't be happening to her. Her worst fears had been realized.

Ivy didn't speak for a long time, but when she did, it was something important.

"Excuse me," she said to the police officer as he walked away. "Don't I get one phone call?"

The cop looked annoyed, but led her to the phone anyways. "Don't bother trying to call the Van der Woodsens, because they won't answer. We haven't been able to reach them yet. And once we do, they're not going to want to pick up your calls," he said, and walked a little ways away to lean against the wall and watch her.

She took out the napkin that she had been keeping in her pocket since she had rediscovered it in her purse and dialed the number.

Ivy had no one. She didn't have Max, Lily, Cece, or Rufus to help her anymore. Serena would hate her forever once she found out. Even Nate would look down on her, and not even Carol could help her now. She could only think of one person who could help her, and it was a person she hardly knew. It was someone who might be able to get her out of jail, help her keep her secret, and most importantly of all, help her figure out who had a vendetta against Chuck and Blair. Ivy was terrified of losing her life in the Upper East Side, but she knew there was no way she would be able to keep it. Even if she somehow got the charges against her dropped before the Van der Woodsens found out, she couldn't stay there forever. She had to accept that. But before she left, she wanted to do one last thing. One thing to make up for all of the bad she had done. She had to redeem herself in some way, and the only way she could think of to do that was to figure out who had really caused Chuck and Blair's accident, and take them down. She was going to be involved in just one more scheme before she left the Upper East Side, and when she was done, she wasn't going to go alone. Whoever had caused this mess was going down with her.

"Hello?" Ivy heard on the other end.

"Hi," she said breathlessly. "This is Charlie, Serena's cousin. We met at a party a few months ago?"

"I knew you'd call eventually," Georgina said, and Ivy could almost see her grin.

**AN: This chapter included a spoiler. Something that happens in it is going to happen on the show, apparently. I don't take credit for that idea…and since I forgot to write a disclaimer, here it is now: I don't own GG or that idea. **

**Thanks for… **

**Reviewing: RauhlPrincess, ElodieBCA, and Liya **

**Favorite Story: RauhlPrincess **

**Pleaseeeeee review!**


	10. Trapped

**Disclaimer: I don't own GG. **

**Chapter 10 **

Chuck and Blair were lying on Eric's bed, completely silent. Chuck was lost in thought, still trying to figure out how to get them out of this nightmare.

"We're trapped in our own minds," he said quietly. "It should be easy to get out. Who would have thought that our minds would be our biggest enemy?"

"Maybe the real world is even scarier than this world right now," Blair speculated. "And this is a defense mechanism."

"What could be worse than being trapped and in a coma, with the possibility of dying at any given moment?"

"You could be alone, on top of all that," Blair pointed out. "Maybe you couldn't deal with the loss of me, so you just shut down so you could be with me. That doesn't really explain how I got you here, though."

"That's not it," Chuck insisted, sitting up. "Why are you so adamant about this? Do you want it to be true?"

"It's just no use to keep trying to get out when I can't."

Chuck didn't have an answer to that. Blair was never going to listen to him on this. She had already decided what she thought about it.

"Why don't we call their bluff?" Chuck suggested. "If we acknowledge that everything's fake and only an illusion, if we say it is, then it will disappear, right?"

Blair sighed. "Haven't you ever had a dream where you know you're dreaming?" she asked.

"No."

"Once you realize it's a dream, things only get worse. The other people in your dream will try to convince you more and more that it's a dream, and it can get dangerous. And you have to remember that dreams can be crazy, but your brain still likes to have a certain amount of logic in things. What would happen in real life if you ran around shouting that everything was an illusion? At best, Lily will blame it on the medication, and at worst, she'll think we're crazy and have us locked up. And if this really is a nightmare, then the nightmare Lily could get scary and attack us."

"But maybe that wouldn't be so bad! If we die here, maybe we'll wake up in the real world!"

"No. When you die in a dream, you die in real life. People say that all the time."

"That doesn't mean it's true," Chuck insisted.

"We need to keep pretending like nothing is wrong for this to work."

"For what to work?"

"For the whole keeping us safe and together thing to work," Blair said. "Anything else will put us in danger."

Chuck closed his eyes. Maybe she was right.

"Why don't we try sleeping, then?" he suggested after a moment. "Maybe we'll wake up in the real world."

"That might work if we were sleeping in the real world, but we're not," Blair said. "And anyways, I already tried to sleep. It doesn't work."

"What do you mean, it doesn't work?"

"I can't fall asleep. I don't get tired. Try it."

Chuck did so, but found, after half an hour of silence, that she was right. Under normal circumstances, he would have thought that he just wasn't tired, but these were not normal circumstances. Besides, he trusted Blair. She was all he had, and he loved her. If he couldn't trust Blair, especially in this strange new world, he couldn't trust anyone or anything. He had to trust her. But did that mean trusting her when she said she was dead?

"You're not going to die, Blair," Chuck broke the silence by whispering. Blair didn't answer.

Chuck and Blair had been through a lot together. He had come close to losing her many times, most of them through some fault of his. He had sold Blair for a hotel, abandoned her on a vacation they were supposed to take together, punched out a glass window above her, slept with others when he was in love with her, almost been too late in rescuing her from a maniac who wanted to kill her, and had come close to losing her by almost losing his own life a few times, but he had never been as terrified of losing her as he was now.

**AN: Ok, so I forgot to say this last chapter but I just want to let you guys know that I don't agree with Blair's actions in the last chapter. I don't think Blair deserves bad things for what she's done and I don't agree with her line of reasoning…she shouldn't have cheated on Louis, maybe, but she loves Chuck and staying with Louis is even more unfair to both of them. So if Blair's reasoning sounded a little ridiculous, it's not because it's what I believe, it's just because she feels guilty and she's desperate and wants to do whatever she can to save Chuck. **

**There's a new episode tomorrow but I'm going to continue to update the story if there's still interest in it. There are 9 more chapters to go and I might try to post another today and one or two tomorrow. But I don't know if there's still a ton of interest in it…let me know if you still want to read after seeing what really happens on the show. **

**Thank you so much to my reviewers from last chapter(ElodieBCA, Vanessa, RauhlPrincess, and Immortalrunes), you guys are the best! **


	11. Visiting Blair

**AN: I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to post anything since Sunday! I was really busy Monday and I still had to finish this chapter and then post it. To make up for it, get ready for an insanely long chapter. Well not insanely, but compared to last chapter it is. I hope you'll like it! Maybe thank me with a review? **

**Chapter 11 **

**Dan **

"Hey," Dan said weakly as he finally walked in to Blair's hospital room to see her.

"Hey," Blair, said, equally weak.

Dan sat down next to her bed. "I'm not even going to bother asking if you're okay, because I know you're not."

Blair breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I've gotten really tired of people asking that over the past couple of days."

"I heard you saw Chuck," Dan said slowly. "How did that go?"

Blair looked at him. "It went alright."

"I heard about….his condition, and I'm sorry."

"Me too." Blair looked down at her hands for a moment, then looked back at Dan. "Can I tell you something? Something I haven't told anyone?"

"Of course," Dan responded, surprised.

"I made a deal with God," Blair said. "For Chuck's life."

There was silence.

"You what?" Dan asked.

"I made a deal. I told Him that I made a mistake. I cheated on Chuck. I took Louis' child away from him. Maybe I deserved to be punished, but Chuck didn't. So I made a deal for his life. I promised to marry Louis in return for Chuck waking up."

Dan looked at her in disbelief. "That's ridiculous, Blair, and you know it. None of you deserve to be punished. You're just two people who love each other who have finally found your way to each other."

Blair shook her head.

"You're being unreasonable," Dan continued.

"You're being closed-minded," Blair retaliated. "You don't understand. But I didn't think you would. I just needed to talk to someone about it. What happened was fate, and this is the only way I can fix it."

"It wasn't fate, Blair. Someone-" But Dan stopped mid-sentence.

He wanted so badly to tell her that this was a mistake, and that the accident wasn't caused by fate at all but someone who had a grudge against her and Chuck and wanted them dead, but he realized just before he said it how bad it sounded. He didn't want to scare her, especially in her state. The doctors had warned all of them not to upset her, and Nate had insisted that he keep quiet about the murder plot around her. But Nate had also said that it wasn't true, and Dan didn't agree with him about that. But maybe he was right about this. He only wanted to Blair to recover and get better, and if telling her the truth would stop this, then he had to lie to her. He had protected her from the truth before, refraining from telling her his feelings for her because he knew it would further conflict her, and he would do it again now. She didn't need more worry. She didn't need the truth. She needed support. So Dan would stay quiet….for now. At least until she got better. He wasn't about to put her life or the life of her baby in jeopardy. Their lives and health, along with Chuck's, were top priority right now, and the truth could wait. Dan would just have to find some other way to protect her.

"Dan, it doesn't matter what you say," Blair said. "I've made up my mind, and it's done anyways."

Dan nodded absentmindedly, but he was still deep in thought. Maybe Blair couldn't protect herself when she didn't even know she needed protection, and maybe Dan couldn't completely protect her, since he was only one man, but Dan knew someone who could protect her completely…

**Ivy **

"Ivy Dickens?" Ivy heard, and her head whipped up. It was strange to hear herself called by her real name, but it was also a little bit of a relief.

"Yes?" Ivy answered.

"You're free to go," the police officer said, opening the door to the jail cell.

"What? Were the charges dropped?"

"You're out on bail until your trial," he explained.

"Oh," Ivy said, realizing what was going on as he led her to Georgina. "Thanks for coming," she said gratefully to her.

Georgina nodded.

"Ms. Dickens," the officer said. "We'd like to ask you a few questions before you go."

"What now?" Ivy asked, her heart sinking.

"They're about your friend, Mr. Archibald."

Ivy sighed. "Fine," she said, allowing him to lead her away to a table. She gestured for Georgina to follow. That way she could hear what was going on now without Ivy having to explain it.

"Mr. Archibald doesn't want to meet with us," he started. "And Mr. Bass and Ms. Waldorf aren't able to while they're in the hospital."

Georgina's eyebrows shot up. "Chuck and Blair are in the hospital?" she asked. "Why?"

"Someone took out the brake fluid in their limo, causing a possibly fatal crash," the officer explained before Ivy could.

"Who?" Georgina asked.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Ivy responded.

"Is Charlie a suspect?" Georgina asked, and Ivy felt her heart drop again as she realized that maybe Georgina was right, and this questioning wasn't as innocent as it seemed.

"No, we just have a few questions to ask your friend _Ivy_. And we've already confirmed that she was either at the party or at the Van der Woodsen penthouse when the car was tampered with."

"Ivy?" Georgina asked. "I'm confused."

"I'll explain later," Ivy muttered. "So, what are your questions?"

"Do you know anyone who may have had a grudge against Mr. Bass and Ms. Waldorf? Or anyone with a history of violent thoughts or actions who knew them?"

Ivy shrugged. "I don't think so."

"Did you see anyone suspicious beforehand?"

"Maybe."

"Ms. Dickens, please take this seriously," the police officer said, exasperated. "I'm trying to solve a murder investigation here. Your friends and family are in danger."

"Well, they're not really my friends and family, according to you," Ivy said bitterly. She did care about these people, but she wasn't in the mood to help the man who had put her behind bars.

"Ms. Dickens, if there's anything you know, it's your responsibility to tell us," the cop insisted.

Ivy shrugged again. "I might remember more if I didn't have all these charges against me to worry about."

The officer stared at her for a moment. "Very well," he said finally. "You may go. We'll be in touch with the date of your trial."

Ivy and Georgina stood up.

"Did you reach the Van der Woodsens yet?" Ivy couldn't help but ask.

"Not yet, but it won't be long before they do. I wouldn't recommend going back there to stay."

"This investigation, it's important, isn't it?" Ivy asked, thinking quickly.

"Very."

"That trust fund belonged to the Rhodes family, which includes Carol Rhodes. Carol gave me access to the trust fund. What I did isn't all that bad. I'll relinquish control of the trust and return or sell anything I've bought with the money."

The police officer was shaking his head. "Save it for the trial," he said.

"Once I've done that," Ivy continued, "my head may be a little clearer, and maybe I'll remember something about that night."

The cop looked up. "Do you know something?"

"I'm an actress. I know how to lie and hot to deceive people. And I'm very highly regarded on the Upper East Side. People trust me. I can find out more than you can. People will always be hiding things from you. But what they'll never tell you I can easily get them to tell me. I may have a lead on who tried to hurt them, and if I'm wrong, it won't be hard to figure out who did. I can be very persuasive. But none of this will work if they don't trust me. If they find out who I am. None of this will work if you call the Van der Woodsens."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm assuming you're in charge of this investigation. No one's dead yet, but there's a killer on the loose. If you fail to catch this killer in time when you've been looking for him for a while, that's not going to look great for you. The Bass, Van der Woodsen, and Waldorf names are very prominent in this city, and if you don't solve this, you could lose your job and your whole reputation. Let me help you, and you won't have to worry about that."

The policeman looked conflicted.

"You wouldn't have to do anything illegal," Ivy added quickly. "You're not setting me free. I'm only out on bail. Just don't release my story or call the Van der Woodsens until after my trial, when it's decided whether I really deserve it or not. You're just hiring me as a sort of volunteer undercover cop until then."

The cop thought for a moment. "I won't call the Van der Woodsens or sell your story for the time being," he said. "I wasn't going to release the story yet anyways, and I've been having trouble reaching the Van der Woodsens anyways. Otherwise I wouldn't agree to this. But I can't let you handle a murderer on your own. Who is your lead? If you're right, maybe I'll consider keeping your story private for longer."

Ivy smiled and quickly explained who Max was and why he may have tried to kill them. "I hope that helps," she said when she was done. "Meanwhile, I'll question their friends and family and see if I can get anything out of them."

The cop nodded, seeming unsure whether he was making the right decision or not.

"Relax," Ivy smiled. "Nothing's changed. You just decided a call you were going to make can wait. It's no big deal."

She turned and left, walking out of the building with Georgina by her side.

"That….was…amazing!" Georgina exclaimed. "I guess you're not as much of an amateur as I thought you were. Now, tell me about this Ivy thing. Who are you really? What, did you pretend to be Charlie Rhodes so you could get her trust fund?"

Ivy looked down.

"You did? Wow, I was kidding," Georgina said.

"I was hired by Carol, Charlie's mom," Ivy explained. "She was in on the whole thing too. She was the one who wanted the trust fund, not me. Last spring, she wanted it to look like I had gone crazy by going off my meds so that I would have a reason to leave the city and never come back."

"But you're back," Georgina pointed out.

"Serena ran into me in L.A. this summer and basically forced me to go back with her. Now I live at the Van der Woodsen penthouse. I know I can leave anytime I want, but I like it too much here. I didn't think I'd ever be found out."

"And how did you get found out?" Georgina asked curiously.

"I don't know," Ivy answered slowly, realizing that she hadn't thought about this as much as she should of. Max had said he wasn't going to say anything, and she didn't think he had enough proof anyways. "That's something else we have to find out. In addition to the murder plot."

"I can't believe there's actually a murder plot against Chuck and Blair," Georgina said, shaking her head, "but why do you want to find out so badly? I mean, besides of the fact that it will keep your secret safe, for now at least."

"Because I care about these people," Charlie explained. "And anyways, my secret won't stay a secret forever. When it's found out, and I have to go back, there'll be a least one good thing for the Van der Woodsens to remember about me-that I saved their friends. And same for you. Maybe they won't hate you so much then, like they seem to now." Georgina wasn't mentioned much, but Ivy had heard a few things said about her, and none of them had seemed nice.

"What do I care if they hate me?" Georgina responded. "I just want to be involved in a scheme again, and maybe cause some trouble along the way."

"So you're in?" Charlie asked hopefully. "You'll help me figure this out?"

Georgina grinned. "I'm in," she said.

**Louis **

Louis was nervously gathering his things together. He still hadn't left for the hospital, and he wasn't positive why. It had taken a while to get to Blair's penthouse, but he had been there for an hour now and still hadn't left. He had meant to gather some of her things to make her more comfortable, but now he worried that might be strange. He knew Blair probably didn't want to see him, and she might be unhappy that he went to her penthouse, even if it was to get her things to make her more comfortable.

He heard the elevator ping and looked up, sure it must be Serena coming home, but instead saw someone else.

"Dan?" Louis asked.

"Hey," Dan responded, stepping out of the elevator. "Uh, I have something to talk to you about. It's about Blair."

"What about her? Is she alright?" Louis asked worriedly.

"She's fine," Dan said quickly. "Well, no, actually, she isn't. But she's not going to die….well, she might, but not from this."

"What are you talking about?" Louis asked.

"There's a plot," Dan started. "A plot against Blair, and….and Chuck."

At the mention of Chuck's name, Louis had to suppress a groan. So Chuck was involved in this too. That was never good.

"Someone is trying to hurt them. Someone did try to hurt them. The brake fluid was taken out of their car in an effort to kill them."

"To kill them?" Louis asked incredulously. _They were in the same car together? _he thought at the same time.

Dan nodded. "Nate seems to think there's been a misunderstanding and that's not what happened, but I get the feeling he's lying to me. I think that Blair needs to be protected, just in case."

"Of course," Louis agreed.

"But I can't give her much protection. Not like you can. You're her fiancée."

"I'm not sure if I am anymore," Louis sighed.

"You are," Dan assured him. "The point is, she needs royal level protection. I need you to keep a close eye on her. Escort her places. Don't let her go out alone, especially at night. Keep your security watching her and looking out for her. And make sure that she doesn't notice. Just tell her you want to make sure she's okay, if she asks why you've been going with her everywhere. But she can't know about this plot. She'll freak out, which would be bad for her condition and recovery."

Louis nodded, worried about what her condition was exactly and deciding that it was definitely time to go to the hospital.

"I should go," Dan said. "But…thanks."

"For what?"

"For understanding how important this is," Dan said quietly, and got back into the elevator.

Louis wasn't so sure Dan was right about Blair still wanting to marry him, but he was definitely right about Blair needing protection. And even if he didn't know what was going on with their relationship, or even what to say to her when he saw her, he knew he had to protect her no matter what. He loved her, and he wasn't ever going to let anything bad happen to her. He would protect her. He just hoped it would be enough.

**Blair **

"Blair bear!" Harold exclaimed as he rushed into the room with Roman, Cyrus, and Eleanor right behind him. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Blair said, trying to hide how upset she was from her family.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous," Eleanor told her daughter, sitting down next to her. "Of course you're not."

"You don't have to put on a brave face for us, Blair bear," Harold said gently, sitting down on the other side of her. Cyrus and Roman went to stand next to Eleanor and Harold, respectively.

"I'm not," Blair insisted. "I'm okay."

"What about the b-" Harold started, but Eleanor shushed him.

"I don't know. There's been no news since they said they were monitoring it," Blair said, knowing what he father was going to say.

"Well, no news is good news, right?" Harold said encouragingly, but Blair didn't agree.

"I'm so sorry," Cyrus said, "that you have to go through this. You and your baby are in all of our prayers."

Blair could only nod. She was reminded of her own prayer. She didn't need to be in their prayers; Chuck and her baby were the ones who needed prayers.

"Where is Louis?" Roman asked.

"Right here," came a voice from the doorway, and they all turned to see Louis walking in. "I'm sorry it took so long to get here."

"It's okay," Blair answered. Blair's family stared at Louis for a moment.

"I'm going to go get some coffee," Cyrus said, "and leave you two alone for a bit."

"I'll go with you," Eleanor said quickly.

"We'll be back soon, sweetheart," Harold said, following Eleanor and Cyrus out with Roman.

Blair watched them go and hardly noticed as Louis sat down next to her.

"How are you?" he asked.

Blair thought for a moment. She definitely wasn't fine, but she didn't want to say that. "I'm alive," she settled for saying.

"And the baby?"

"They don't know yet…but the odds aren't great…" She looked away before she could see his reaction. She didn't want to have to see his pain. Her own pain was too much to bear already. And besides, she had been planning on taking this baby from him not too long ago. She was too ashamed. She couldn't even look her own fiancée in the eye.

"I'm sorry, Blair."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Blair said. "It's me who should be sorry. It was my responsibility to take care of our baby, and I failed it. I failed you."

"The car accident was not your fault, Blair," Louis said so gently that Blair felt her heart clench with guilt again. "I don't blame you for it. No one does."

"I do," Blair whispered. "It's all my fault. Everything is."

"Of course it isn't. Don't beat yourself up about it. I hate to see you upset. And you're not going to get any better if you continue to blame yourself."

"I can't help it."

"Please, Blair. I love you. I only want you to get better."

Blair felt so awful that she wanted to cry. Why did he have to be so sweet? Why couldn't he be angry and blame her for everything? It would all be so much easier if he did. She would feel that at least someone was being honest with her, then. And she wouldn't feel so guilty for everything. How could she have cheated on a man who was so caring and who loved her, who was the father of her child? How could she have been so awful to him?

"Are you angry with me, for what I did before your party?" Louis asked. "I'm very sorry, Blair."

"I know, and I'm not still mad," Blair said. "I'm over it. Recent events have showed me how important our relationship is. Something as trivial as Gossip Girl blasts aren't important compared to our baby, and our love."

Louis let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to hear it. You're not getting cold feet, then?"

"No, of course not," Blair assured him.

Louis smiled. "Then all we need to worry about is getting you and our baby healthy again."

Blair tried to smile back. "Looks like it," she said.

How could he be so clueless? How could he be forgetting about the other cause for worry? Did he even know that Chuck was in a coma? Did he know that someone could die? He didn't understand the fear she felt at losing Chuck. Even if he didn't think she was in love with Chuck, he must know that he meant something to her. How could he be so insensitive about that?

All she needed to worry about was everything. Her whole world was falling apart. Without Chuck, everything seemed dark and dreary. She was lost without him. She could survive without him if he woke up, but with him gone from the world forever, Blair wasn't sure how she could ever recover.

Death had spared Chuck before. He had come close to death, many times, but people had always pulled him back. Why couldn't he be pulled back now? Death had played a twisted game with him, pushing him away at bad times and letting him think he was safe and then finally pulling him in when all his dreams had come true. Why couldn't he just let Chuck go?

She was terrified of losing him. She had gone through this fear before, but it didn't make it any easier now. She could remember clearly him standing on the edge of a building not long after his father had died. She remembered him almost falling when she had gotten there with Jack. She remembered holding out her hand and fearing that he wouldn't take it. And she remembered holding him and promising herself that she would never let him go. She remembered hearing Serena and the French policeman tell her that Chuck had been shot. She remembered clutching Chuck in front of Russell, worrying that they were all going to be killed. And she certainly remembered Serena telling her that Chuck had lost a lot of blood and that it wasn't looking good.

And she remembered a time long ago…

"_Let's jump," Chuck said, a grin growing on his face. _

"_Are you kidding me? We'll drown!" _

"_It's not that high," Chuck smirked. _

"_I'll ruin my dress," Blair said prissily. "And it's from my mother." _

_Chuck rolled his eyes. "You're such a chicken." _

"_Am not," Blair insisted. "I'm just enjoying a nice day with my friends. I don't want to ruin it by getting all wet and gross for now reason." _

"_It'll be fun!"_

_Blair shook her head vigorously. "It's dangerous. Didn't your father tell you just yesterday to be careful on the bridge? You're not a very good swimmer." _

"_Shut up," Chuck said as she giggled. "I can swim fine. And I don't care what my father says." _

"_Oh, really?" Blair asked, raising her eyebrows. "Yes, father. Of course, your majesty. Anything for you, your highness," she mimicked, bowing. _

_Chuck glared at her. "I do not sound like that," he said. "And I don't say that, either." _

"_Close enough," Blair shrugged. _

"_You're trying to change the subject," Chuck said. _

"_Well, I don't think it's a good idea to jump. I agree with your father." _

"_I already told you, I don't care what he thinks. And I don't care what you think, either." _

"_Fine," Blair shrugged, getting annoyed with him. "Then jump. See if I care." _

"_You're missing out," Chuck taunted her, climbing over the side of the bridge to be on the outside. _

"_I'm only missing out on getting mud on my dress," Blair said, but she was growing increasingly nervous. "Chuck, don't jump," she said suddenly. _

_He looked up. "Why?" _

"_Because, I…I don't want you to get hurt." _

"_Relax, I'll be fine," Chuck said. "Anyways, how're you gonna stop me? Are you going to tell on me?" _

"_I'm not a tattletale." Blair said, offended. _

"_I didn't think so. Last chance to join me." _

"_Why should I?" _

"_I bet it will impress Nate," Chuck pointed out. Blair followed his gaze to where Nate and Serena were chasing each other on the grass. "Then maybe he'll finally like you better than Serena." _

_Blair stared at him for a moment. "You don't know what you're talking about," she said quietly. _

"_Of course I do. I've seen the way you look at him. But I've also seen the way he looks at Serena. She just loves taking what's yours, doesn't she?" _

_Blair glared at him. "Go, then," she said. "And leave me alone. Just remember, when you're drowning, and you realize I was right, I won't be there to save you." _

"_Like I would need saving from a girl," Chuck scoffed. "It's just a river. It's not a field of knives." _

"_It may as well be, for someone who can't swim." _

"_I told you, I can swim fine!" Chuck said, getting angry. _

"_Then prove it," Blair said. "Go ahead and jump. You're not going to do it, are you? You're the one who's too scared. You're a coward. You-Chuck!" she shouted as he jumped off. _

_She hadn't thought he was actually going to do it. Chuck was reckless, but he wasn't stupid. He knew it was dangerous. And she knew, no matter how much he tried to deny it, that he cared about what his father thought. And his father had told him not to do this. _

_Blair watched the water anxiously after Chuck fell in. Her eyes searched the surface for any sign of someone swimming towards the surface, but she couldn't see any. _

_Her heart beating fast, she ran down the bridge and down the path leading up to it. _

"_Mr. Bass!" she shouted. "MR. BASS?" _

_Nate stopped his chase and started to walk towards her. Blair didn't see where Serena was. She ran to Chuck's father and began tugging at his arm. _

"_Mr. Bass, please, it's Chuck, he jumped in the water, and-" _

"_He what?" Bart finally looked away from his conversation to say, then looked at the water. _

_An expression of complete panic overtook his face and he shook Blair off and raced towards to river. Blair had never seen Bart Bass look that that, or run like that, and was pretty sure she never would again. _

_Blair watched him worriedly until she noticed Nate behind her. _

"_Natie," she said, hugging him as she cried. What was going to happen to Chuck? Serena watched the river open-mouthed behind them. _

_They all watched the river for a few tense moments, until finally they saw the surface break and Bart help Chuck ashore. _

_Bart helped Chuck up and then started to yell at him. Blair couldn't hear what they were saying, but Bart looked scary. Chuck looked down and didn't say a word. Finally, he nodded, and Bart walked away. _

_Chuck marched up to Blair._

"_Are you okay?" Blair asked, concerned. _

"_Did you tell him?" he demanded. _

"_What?" Blair asked, confused. _

"_Were you the one who told my father?" _

_Blair nodded. Chuck glared at her, turned around and started walking away. _

"_Chuck, wait!" Blair called, running after him. By the time she caught up with him, they were far away from Nate and Serena. _

"_What's wrong? Are you okay?" she asked breathlessly as she reached him. _

"_Leave me alone," Chuck said. _

"_But-" _

"_Did you have to go tell my father?" Chuck said, whipping around. "I thought you said you weren't a tattletale." _

"_I was worried," Blair said. Was he actually angry at her for saving his life? _

"_I wasn't going to drown, I was fine. It takes more than two seconds to swim up from the bottom." _

"_I was only trying to-" _

"_I don't need you to take care of me. I can take care of myself." _

"_It didn't look like it," Blair said. _

"_Well, I can!" _

"_I'm sorry," Blair said, in tears again. "I was just worried about you! I care about you, and-" _

"_You don't care about me," Chuck said angrily. "Not the way you care about Nate." _

_Blair was left speechless as he stormed off. What had he meant by that? _

"_Chuck, wait!" she called and ran after him. "What does that mean?" she asked, grabbing his arm. _

"_Nothing. Just don't act like you care about me." _

"_We're friends, of course I do!" _

"_Real friends don't rat their friends out." _

"_They do when they think their friends are in trouble! If I hadn't told your father, we wouldn't be having this conversation now, because you'd still be in the river." _

"_That's not true." _

"_Yes, it is. And in case you didn't notice, I chose to hang out with you on the bridge today instead of with Nate and Serena in the grass. So don't you dare say I don't care about you." _

_Chuck didn't say anything. He looked embarrassed. He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again. Finally, he nodded and walked away. _

_Blair let him go. When she saw him again that night he acted like the whole thing had never happened, and Blair did too. _

She had never mentioned it to him again, and had never really thought about it again until now. It seemed he might have had a crush on her all the way back then, though she doubted it had lasted long.

Who would have thought, then, that this would all become so tragic someday? Who would have thought that crush and that moment of danger would transform into love and death?

All the times Chuck had been near death made her feel sick. She had come close to losing him far too many times for her liking.

He had grown so much-why did he need to be knocked down now? He had so much to live for….why should he have to fight for that when he had spent his whole life fighting; fighting for Blair, fighting Nate, fighting his father's disappointment?

Blair was tired of fighting, and she hadn't fought nearly as hard as Chuck had in his life. Would he still have energy to fight for his own life?

"What are you thinking about?" Louis asked, and Blair jumped. She had forgotten he was there.

"Nothing," Blair said. "I'm just tired."

"I'm sure you are," Louis said. "Why don't you get some rest?"

Blair knew she wouldn't be able to sleep, but she had to pretend to if she wanted Louis to believe that she was okay. And she couldn't stand to talk to him any more for the day. It made her feel too guilty. So she closed her eyes and hoped that by the time she opened her eyes again, Chuck would have opened his too.

**AN: Sorry if it didn't seem like they were 8 in the memory, I had trouble with that…so let's just say they were young and not a set age. **

**Did anyone think the episode last night was kinda weird? The writing at times felt a little awkward. But the scene at the end with Chuck and Blair was so sad! The whole episode was sad. **

**Thanks for… **

**Reviewing: Liya, jenny (to respond to your review: haha I guess not, I haven't seen it either), Rosie, Immortalrunes, and Italiapen112 **

**Story Alert: theghostqueen, Italiapen112, and lovingmealways**

**Please review! Let me know what you thought about this chapter and last night's episode. **


	12. Two of Us

**Chapter 12 **

"We can't stay here forever," Blair said a long time later.

"That's what I've been saying!"

"No, I don't mean here, I mean here here…this room. We have to go out sometime. Lily and Rufus will wonder what happened to us."

"Lily and Rufus aren't real, Blair, they can't have thoughts or wonder things. They're just in our imagination. Even if we are dead, like you claim, they're not real."

"Right," Blair said, looking confused. "I forgot. It's awfully lonely, isn't it, thinking that we're the only real people here?"

"We have each other," Chuck reminded her, giving her a reassuring smile. Blair gave a small smile back.

"I should go," she said suddenly. "My mother wanted to meet. She flew in after the accident. She's worried about me. I have to tell her I'm okay."

"Blair, she's not really worried, remember?" Chuck said. "But I am. You said it yourself, we're the only real people in here. Don't leave me to meet with an imaginary person. We should stick together."

"No, you remember, we're supposed to be pretending like everything is normal for this to work, which means I have to meet with my fake mother and act like she's my real mother. And don't you go doing anything rash while I'm gone-you have to act like everything's normal too."

"Blair, please don't go. I don't want to lose you. What if something bad happens? This isn't like the real world. If you don't come back I can't just ask someone where you are, because no one is real. If you never come back, I can't call the police or hire a P.I. I'm afraid what will happen if we don't stay together. What if one of us walks into a trap?"

"We'd be just as likely to walk into a trap if we were together," Blair said. "What, are you saying you're more clever than me?"

"No, I'm just saying that two brains is better than one!"

"And I'm saying that if I don't go meet with my mother right now, something bad is going to happen! I can feel it. So I'm going."

She turned and walked away.

Was she really mad at him? Why did he feel like she was changing moods all the time? And why did she want to leave when she kept saying all she needed was to be with him, and that she was scared of leaving the room?

He sat on Eric's bed for a few more moments, then decided to go home. If he couldn't be with Blair, then he could at least be at home, alone. He hoped Nate wouldn't be there. He didn't want to have to deal with someone who wasn't real.

Blair was right. It was lonely. And now that she was gone, Chuck was lonelier than ever.

Nate, thankfully, was not home when Chuck got there. In fact, Nate didn't come home for a week. Meanwhile, Chuck was busy making charts, and taking notes, and more, brainstorming how to get Blair and him back into the real world. He was interrupted occasionally by strange flashes, and they got more and more frequent. Most of the time he could only see white, but sometimes he could see blurry outlines of people and muffled voices. And sometimes, worst of all, all he could see was black, and he didn't even want to think about what that meant. The beeping didn't go away, though, and he took that as a small comfort. He was still alive. But what about Blair?

Chuck tried to ignore the flashes the best he could, but he couldn't help wondering if the white flashes were the real world and how he could break through completely. And he couldn't help wondering if the blackouts meant what he thought they did…

It turned out that cell phones did work there (which was another thing Chuck drew up charts for and tried to figure out), and Chuck was able to reach Blair. She was being very distant, but she occasionally stopped by to look at what he'd done. She didn't seem very interested by any of it, though. He hadn't even done this much work in school, and she would barely look at it.

"What do you think?" he asked her one visit.

Blair walked over to the window and shrugged. "It's fine."

"What do you mean, it's fine? What do you think about my theories? Do you think they're right? What about the time thing? Do you think it exists here?"

"The clock hands move. It gets dark."

"But that could all be part of the illusion."

"I don't really want to talk about this now."

Chuck had sighed. "What do you want to talk about, then, Blair? The weather? Shopping? Because I don't know about you, but everything else seems kind of insignificant when we're in comas."

"You know how I feel about this, Chuck."

"Yeah, I do, and I think it's ridiculous."

"Don't be so-"

"Hey, guys!" Nate walked in, smiling.

"Nate?" Chuck asked. "Where have you been?"

"Staying with Serena," Nate explained. "Didn't I tell you that?"

"But Serena lives with Blair," Chuck questioned, furrowing his brow. "Blair, you didn't mention Nate was staying with you."

"Oh…" Blair said, a puzzled expression of her face. "I must have forgotten." Chuck shot her a strange look. How could she forget that she had been living with Nate for the past week? Unless she hadn't been staying at home, and Nate was covering for her by not mentioning it. But then where would she be going?

"So, are you two together now?" Chuck asked. It was strange to make conversation with the fake Nate, but Chuck was curious. Had him and Blair dreamt up a Nate Serena relationship? That was a little strange. Maybe, subconsciously, it was what they both wanted. Then their group would be even more tied together.

Nate shrugged. "I don't know."

"Why would you be staying with her if you wouldn't?" Chuck asked.

Nate opened his mouth to answer, but Blair interrupted him.

"Let's not _question things_, okay, Chuck?" Blair asked, shooting him an warning look. "Nate can tell us about him and Serena when he wants to."

"Blair, can we talk for a moment?" Chuck asked.

"I guess," Blair said.

"In private?" Chuck glanced at Nate. Blair looked annoyed, but followed him into his room.

"What are you doing? Are you forgetting what I said?" Blair asked as soon as he closed the door. "You're going to mess up everything here!"

"Maybe I don't care!" Chuck said. "At least it would be doing something! At least it would be better than sitting here alone, doing nothing! I can't stand just sitting here anymore, Blair! We have to get out! I don't understand why you're so against that."

"I told you why, I told you that it's dangerous! I only want to protect us!"

"Blair, it's dangerous even without questioning everything! Those weird flash things are getting more and more frequent!" Chuck said, desperately needing her to understand. He knew that without her fully committed to getting out, they would be stuck there forever.

"I hadn't noticed," Blair said.

"Yes, you have, and you're ignoring them! We can't stay here forever!" Chuck shouted.

"Oh yes we can!" Blair yelled back.

"No, we can't, and I've already explained why! Why have you given up, Blair? I thought we agreed we would keep trying to escape?"

"I made no such agreement!" Blair insisted. "You know what, I'm going to go. I'm meeting Serena for lunch."

"I don't believe you. Why do you keep meeting with people who aren't real?"

"I told you."

"It didn't make any sense then, and it still doesn't now. Where do you go when you leave here? Why didn't you know Nate was staying with you?" Chuck demanded.

Blair turned around angrily and walked a few steps, then stopped. She was silent for a moment, and then Chuck heard her sniff.

"Blair?" he asked quietly. He took her hand gently and she turned back towards him.

"Blair, where do you go when you're not with me?" he asked again quietly, fearing the answer.

"I don't know," Blair said, tears running down her face. "I can't remember anything besides being with you."

"Then why leave?" he asked gently. Why was this happening to her, and not him? Was she more seriously injured from the crash?

"I can feel myself…disappearing….sometimes, and I didn't want you to know. So I leave whenever I feel it. I don't even remember meeting Louis, or my mother, and I don't remember seeing Serena since before the accident-"

"You kept this from me?" Chuck asked. He wasn't angry, but he was disappointed. He just wanted them to be truthful with each other.

"I didn't want you to worry any more than you already were. You're so obsessed with finding a way out, and I didn't want to make it worse, because what you're doing-it's dangerous, Chuck. This is something that's bigger than us. We can't fight it. We can't mess with things like fate, and even if you're right, and this is in our minds, it's not a good idea to fight it. What's at stake here is our lives, and our minds. We can't fight our own minds or we'll destroy them-and they're our only advantage here. It may be trapping us, but it's also helping us. I'm sure it's trapping us for a reason. Like I said before, whatever this place is, it may be better than what's out there. Maybe our bodies aren't well enough for us to be in them. Maybe it's safer for us to be here until our bodies are ready for our minds. Have you felt any pain since you've gotten here? No, you haven't, and neither have I. Do you know how incredibly lucky we are to not feel the results of the crash, and to be able to recover together without even feeling any pain? We have to work with our minds, not against them."

"See, this is why you would have really been helpful with my charts," Chuck said quietly, and Blair smiled a bit. "But, Blair, don't you see, this just gives us all the more reason to try to get out of here. If you're really disappearing, then you're not recovering. You're getting worse. Maybe your body needs your mind awake to help it fight this. Whatever we find out there may be bad, but it can't be as bad as this waiting."

"Better a hell you know than one you don't," Blair quoted.

"I disagree. Not when there's a chance the one we don't know could be better, and staying here could be killing you. If you think you're going to disappear completely, and die, then isn't it better to at least try to get out? If you think you're going to die anyways, why not take a risk?" He didn't like to talk like this, about her death, and encourage her to take a risk that might kill her, but he believed firmly that the only way to save her life was to get her to wake up.

Blair sighed. "I guess you're right."

"So you'll help me now, with my ideas on how to get out of here?"

"Okay," Blair agreed after hesitating. "I'll help you. I'll trust you on this one. I just hope you're right."

"That makes two of us." Chuck muttered.

**AN: Thanks for… **

**Reviewing: Rosie **

**Favorite Story: PhoenixRose45**

**Pleaseee review! **


	13. We All Lie

**AN: There's a mini time jump here, just to pass to the time when Blair has returned from the hospital. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own GG. **

**Chapter 13 **

**3 WEEKS LATER… **

**Dan**

"Dorota! Will you go see who's at the door?" Dan heard Blair call as he got off of the elevator. "Dorota!"

Blair sighed in annoyance and Dan heard her walk down the stairs. "Oh, it's you," she said when she saw him. "What are you doing here?"

"I just came to see how you were doing."

"You don't have to keep checking up on me, Dan," Blair rolled her eyes.

He did, actually. Louis had to go out and Dan didn't want Blair to be without protection. That was the hard part about not telling her about the murder plot. It was hard to protect someone when they didn't even know that they had to be protected. Ever since Blair had gotten home from the hospital, Dan had been coming over every time Louis left, and Dan could tell Blair was getting suspicious.

"I know, but I want to," Dan responded as Blair reached the end of the stairs. "How are you? How's the baby?"

"We're okay," Blair said. "The doctor wants me to come in for more regular checkups for the baby. They're worried about it, but it's okay for now. They told met o take it easy for the time being. They wanted to put me on bed rest, but I've got a royal wedding coming up, and there's no way I'm getting married in my room."

"You don't have to get married at all," Dan suggested cautiously. She got angry at him every time he said this, but he couldn't help it. Dan knew Louis could protect her and be a good husband, but he also knew that Blair didn't want to marry him. And he just wanted Blair to be happy.

"You know I do," Blair said angrily, then softened her voice. "How is he?"

"The same," Dan answered. "I wish I had something different to say, but I don't."

Blair looked upset. "It's my fault. I've been avoiding Louis and keeping to myself up in my room. I don't like talking to him. I'm not committing fully to this relationship like I promised to."

"How much more committed can you get than marriage?" Dan asked. "Besides, I think Chuck not getting better is further proof that this promise is ridiculous, and that it's not working. You should be with Chuck. You love him. And he's much more likely to get better if you start visiting him again. He's probably getting really tired of hearing Lily and Nate's voices."

"He's in a coma, what's the point of visiting him?" Blair snapped, but Dan knew she didn't mean that. He knew she was dying to visit him.

"You know, visiting him wouldn't break your pact," Dan said.

"It may not be breaking the rules, but it's bending them," Blair said. "And I don't want to risk him not getting better."

"Blair, he's not getting any better! This promise clearly didn't work! Can't you at least stop lying to the world and be at his side? If not to help him get better, then at least to be with him until the end?"

"The end isn't going to be for a long, long time," Blair said. "Because I'm going to keep my promise. So can we just stop talking about this, please?"

"You have no proof this promise worked, so why are you sticking to it?"

"Because it's all I have!" Blair shouted. "And besides, my baby is alive. Chuck is alive. They're not dead yet."

"You think that's because of the promise? It's because of modern medicine! It's because of doctors!"

"We're not talking about this anymore," Blair said firmly.

"Blair-"

"Please, Dan! Do you have any idea what I'm going through right now? Living in fear of the death of two of the most important people in the world to me? Planning a wedding I don't want to be a part of? Not even being able to visit the love of my life in the hospital? Being with a man that I'll never love as much as I love Chuck? Not being able to be with the person I love most in this world? You don't understand any of that."

Suddenly, the phone rang. Blair gave one last glare at Dan and started to walk away to answer it.

Dan thought about what she had said. He understood living in fear of people he loved dying, most recently Blair after the car crash. He didn't understand planning a wedding he didn't want to be part of, but he understood watching the woman he loved planning a wedding that he didn't want to happen. He didn't understand not being able to visit the love of his life in the hospital, but he understood the pain of having loved ones in the hospital. He didn't understand being with a man he didn't love as much as Chuck, for sure, but he did understand not being able to be with the person he loved most in this world.

"I understand more than you think," Dan said quietly.

**Ivy **

"Nate! There you are, you've been avoiding my calls for weeks!" Ivy exclaimed as Nate walked into her room at the Van der Woodsen penthouse.

"I've been busy," Nate muttered. Ivy gave him a sympathetic look. She knew he had been at the hospital. His hair was a mess and it looked like he hadn't showered in weeks. He had put his assistant in charge of The Spectator and hadn't shown up for work in weeks. But most worryingly, he still hadn't talked to the cops about Chuck and Blair's accident, and they really needed information from him. And Charlie had to get that information if she was going to fix this whole thing and stay out of jail. "Hey, were you actually arrested? I saw that picture on Gossip Girl of you following a police officer out of the building, and Gossip Girl said she saw you get handcuffed too, though there was no photo of that."

"They just wanted to question me about the accident," Ivy said, repeating the cover story she had told everyone who had asked since the picture of her on Gossip Girl had been posted.

"Oh, good," Nate said, then seemed to zone out.

"Nate! Concentrate, we have a lot to talk about today."

"Can't it wait? The Spectator can get along fine without me."

"This isn't about The Spectator…" Ivy said slowly.

"But you said-"

"Hey, guys!" came a voice from the doorway. They looked up to see Georgina walking in, smiling.

"You're early," Ivy said, annoyed. She had hoped she would be able to explain about Georgina before she got here, but it looked like that wasn't going to happen.

"Georgina?" Nate said in surprise.

"Long time, no see!" Georgina said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, and for good reason," Nate said, then turned to Ivy. "Why is she here?"

"We met at the Constance party last Spring, and a few weeks ago I called her to ask if she would help me figure out who tried to kill Chuck and Blair."

"And why would you do that?"

"Because it's important! Chuck is still in the hospital!"

"I know, which is why it can wait! I have to worry about his health first."

"But this affects his health! Don't you want to know who tried to hurt them?"

Nate sighed. "This is just too much right now. I don't have the time or energy to deal with this."

"Nate, I know you have a lot going on right now, but this is important. Please."

Nate hesitated." Fine," he said after a pause. "But no schemes. I don't like that you got Georigna involved. This is going to end badly, I can tell."

"Okay, I'm standing right here," Georgina said. "Nice to see you too," she added sarcastically.

"If this is going to work, we have to make an effort to get along," Ivy said firmly.

"Fine, just tell me what I have to do," Nate said, tired.

"You don't know anyone who has a grudge against Chuck and Blair?"

"I'm sure there are plenty of people from Constance who don't like them. Blair humiliated a lot of girls when she was queen. And now she's a target because she's going to be a princess, and some people are mad that Louis is marrying an American and not someone from Monaco or a neighboring place. And Chuck is a target because he owns a huge company. It could be anyone."

"Somehow I don't feel like this is just anyone," Ivy said. "I think you may have been right, and it was Max, but on someone else's orders. Do you know anyone he might have come in contact with who asked him to do it?"

"How would I know? He's your ex. You know what, this isn't going anywhere. We should let the cops handle this. Not Georgina Sparks."

He got up and left. Ivy refrained from telling him that she kind of was a cop now. She sighed and looked at Georgina. "Now what?" she asked.

"Nate clearly isn't interested in helping us. But I get the feeling he knows something."

"He was acting weird, but I think it's just because of Chuck being in the hospital."

"I don't know," Georgina said. "Maybe. We should try Max again."

"He's been ignoring my calls. And he didn't answer yours, either. You know that."

"Maybe, but I don't think that he'll ignore Nate's calls," Georgina said slyly, holding up Nate's cell phone.

"How did you get that?" Ivy asked, confused and impressed.

Georgina shrugged. "I took it out of his pocket."

"And he didn't notice?"

"You were distracting him," Georgina smiled. "I knew he wasn't going to give us any information. That wasn't the point of inviting him over. This was."

"Why didn't you just tell me?"

"I didn't want you to mess it up. If you knew I was stealing it, you would act differently. He might notice."

"I'm an actress," Ivy said, offended.

"Maybe, but you're an amateur in scheming," Georgina corrected.

"I thought you said you were wrong about that?"

Georgina shrugged. "I was wrong and right. You're a good liar, but you're not a natural schemer like me. Stealing a friend's phone is not a part of your character, and you wouldn't have liked doing it. So I didn't tell you. Acting is different than scheming. So are you going to call, or not?"

Ivy hesitated, looking at the phone. Part of her felt that she should rush to the lobby and see if she could catch Nate leaving and say that he had forgotten his phone and give it back, but she also really needed to talk to Max. And Georgina was right, he would answer Nate's calls. He would think that Nate wanted to publish his story. Ivy was doing this with good reason, too; she was trying to solve a murder case. And anyways, Ivy had done much worse things for much less noble reasons.

"You call," Ivy said finally. "He might hang up on me."

"Good point," Georgina said, and Ivy handed her her own phone so that she could see Max's number and dial it.

"How will he know it's Nate's?" Ivy asked.

"He probably put Nate's contact in his phone. It's on The Spectator website, so that people can call him about news stories and for interviews and such. He probably put it in his phone before showing up to his office, planning on calling first but then realizing it would be better to just show up."

"How do you know all that?" Ivy asked, impressed.

"You have to think like the villain if you want to figure out the crime….hello, is this Max?...Hi, this is Georgina Sparks. Don't hang up or I'll tell the police what you did to that car."

Ivy's eyes widened. She was fishing, which was a good strategy but also a bold one. He may just deny it or really not know what she was talking about. Georgina smiled and put the phone on speaker.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Max said after a moment. "Who is this again?"

Ivy gave Georgina a worried look. He wasn't about to admit to what he did, and he wanted answers. But Georgina didn't look concerned at all.

"Have you heard of a little site called Gossip Girl from your time in New York? I'm sure you have. Well, that's me."

Ivy's jaw dropped as she stared at Georgina in disbelief. Georgina shook her head and put a finger to her lips.

"You're gossip girl?"

"Yes. How else do you think I knew about what you did? I see everything. And what I don't see gets sent to me. So I know all about how you were paid to take the brake fluid out of that limo."

"I'm sorry," Max said, sounding scared. "But I don't understand why you're calling. What do you want from me?"

"I want you to tell me who paid you. And if you don't, I'm going straight to the cops. Don't think I won't do it because I will."

"You can't prove it was me."

"Oh yes I can. Remember who I am, Max. I have pictures from that night. I have proof of what you did. Did you know that Chuck is dying? What do you think will happen to you when the police find out that you killed Chuck Bass?"

"Wait, what? I didn't do that," Max said.

"Don't even try to deny it-"

"No, really!" Max insisted. "I didn't take the brake fluid out of Chuck Bass's car. I took it out of Nate Archibald's car."

"What?" Ivy said before she could stop herself.

There was a pause.

"Ivy?" Max asked.

"No, that was just me," Georgina said, glaring at Ivy.

"No, that was definitely Ivy! Look, I don't know who you really are, or why you're doing this, but there's nothing you can do to me. I have absolutely no proof that you have pictures of me messing with that car, and even if you tell the police, they'll want to know how you know. They'll be suspicious of you. I don't know what game you're playing here, but I don't want any part in it. I got my money. If you really want to get back at the person who caused this, I'm not the guy you're looking for."

Max hung up. Ivy groaned in anger. "Now what? That didn't help us at all! We're no farther to figuring out the truth than we were before, except that now we have to worry about Nate instead, which means that all of our brainstorming so far has been for nothing, just like this call!"

"It's wasn't for nothing," Georgina said. "Now we know it definitely Max who did it, and that someone definitely paid him to do it too. And knowing that we're looking for someone who wanted to kill Nate and not Chuck and Blair is of huge importance. Now what we need to do is figure out if Nate knew about this."

"What do you mean? Of course he didn't! He would have told me! He wouldn't have let me go so far in the other direction if he knew the truth!"

"You never know until you ask," Georgina shrugged. "And by the way, next time leave things to the experts, okay? If you had kept quiet we might know who tried to kill Nate by now."

With one last glare, Georgina got up to leave.

"Where are you going?" Ivy asked.

"I have some errands to run," Georgina called over her shoulder. "And anyways, you should talk to Nate alone. He's not going to tell you what he knows if I'm there."

"You think he knows something?" Ivy asked. "And are you really Gossip Girl? Georgina?"

Ivy sighed when there was no answer. She reached for her phone and dialed Nate's number, remembering that Georgina had stolen it only when she heard it ringing next to her. Ivy sighed. How was she going to get in touch with him now? He could be anywhere.

"The hospital," Ivy said suddenly. He had been spending all of his time there lately. Where else would he be?

Ivy didn't want to go to the hospital. She had never really liked them, and she felt that she was intruding on the Chuck's friends and family's sorrow by going, but she didn't see another choice. Nate's life was in danger, and she had to talk to him about it. Even if Georgina was right, she needed to find out why he had lied about it. And as Ivy got closer and closer to the hospital, she was more and more convinced that Nate hadn't been entirely truthful with her about the car. It would explain why he had been acting weird, at least, and why he had been less than enthusiastic about telling them who might have had a motive against Chuck and Blair. Ivy just couldn't believe that Nate would let her work so hard on finding out who tried to kill Chuck and Blair when it was really who tried to kill Nate that she was looking for.

It wasn't too hard to find Nate at the hospital. She asked to visit Chuck Bass, and when she got to the room he was just about to walk in.

"Hey," he said, looking confused. "Didn't we just say goodbye?"

"I didn't say anything, and neither did you. You just left. And you forgot your phone," Ivy said, handing it to him.

"I didn't even notice it was gone," Nate frowned. "What do you want, Charlie? I already told you everything I know."

"Everything?" Ivy raised her eyebrows. "What about the fact that you got in the wrong car that night, and that someone tried to kill you, not Chuck and Blair?"

Nate opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. "How did you find out?" he finally said.

"We talked to Max. Turns out he did cause the crash. But someone paid him to do it."

Nate's eyes widened at this information, but before he could speak, Ivy cut in.

"I can't believe you lied to me! Do you have any idea how hard I've been working on this?"

"No, Charlie, I don't, because I've been at the hospital with my best friend, who's in a coma!" Nate said loudly.

"Oh, stop using that as an excuse!"

"An excuse?" Nate said incredulously.

"Yes, an excuse! Look, we're all worried about Chuck, but there's nothing more we can do for him now! It's your life that's in danger now, and it's much easier to prevent your death than his!" Ivy shouted, not realizing how bad it sounded until she had already said it.

"You think he's going to die," Nate said quietly.

"Nate, I'm sorry….I'm worried too, I didn't mean to-"

"But you don't know him!" Nate shouted. "He's not your best friend! You haven't been like a brother to him for your entire life! Don't act like you understand what I'm going through, because you don't."

"Maybe I don't, least of all why you wouldn't want to find out who tried to kill you and why you wouldn't want to get revenge on the person who did this to Chuck!"

"It's not going to save him!" Nate said. "Getting revenge isn't going to save him!"

"No, but it will save you!" Ivy said. "I just don't understand why you would lie."

"We all lie!" Nate said. "We live on the Upper East Side! We lie, we cheat, we steal, we pretend we're people we're not-"

Ivy froze. Did he know?

"-and you're no exception! I don't think you're telling the truth about why you were at the police station. I heard you were arrested."

"You shouldn't believe everything you hear," Ivy said. "And I really thought you were different, Nate. I thought you weren't like that. I thought you didn't lie and steal like the rest of them. I thought you were one of the good guys."

Nate shook his head. "Look, Charlie, you can go do what you want. Go research my past. Figure out who did this if you want. But I'm not going to get involved."

"You're already involved!" Ivy said. "Nate, I don't think you understand! Someone tried to kill you, or hurt you at least!"

"But it didn't work. Now all I can do is try to be there for the person it did hurt," Nate said, and with one last glare, he walked back into the hospital room.

Ivy wanted to scream in frustration. There was no way she could do this without his help, yet he wasn't taking it seriously. He had kept her from the truth even when it would save his life. She just didn't understand why he wouldn't want to protect himself from this person. She understood he was upset right now, but still, his safety was in danger.

He had lied to her.

But maybe he was right. They all lied. Ivy lied. She lied every day, pretending she was Charlie Rhodes when she was really Ivy Dickens. She was the biggest liar of them all. She lied, she cheated, she stole, and she had certainly pretended she was someone she wasn't. Maybe she fit in on the Upper East Side better than she thought.

Ivy dialed Max's number as she reached the Van der Woodsen penthouse. Maybe it was time to start being more honest. Maybe if she was honest with Max about her intentions, he would help her.

"What do you want, Ivy?" Max answered on the last ring. "Can you stop calling already?"

"I need to know who paid you to take the brake fluid out of that car," Ivy said. "Please, Max. This is someone's life that's in danger. And I won't tell the police that it was you who actually did it. You got your money, and you even got me in jail. As soon as the jury finds me guilty, as I'm sure they will, I'm going to jail. I'm only out on bail now."

"Really?" Max said, sounding happy. "Looks like you finally got what you deserved."

"But you didn't. You blackmailed me, you messed with someone's car, and you got to walk free with a whole lot of money. But maybe that will be balanced out if you tell me who paid you. It's not like you have any obligation to them anyways. They can't take the money back now. Even if you tell me, you don't owe them anything."

"I don't owe you anything, either. Why should I tell you?"

"If you tell me, I'll make sure yours is the first story to get out about my arrest," Ivy said. "You can tell The Spectator everything."

"How would you do that?"

"The police have promised not to release the story yet. Before my trial, I'll put you in contact with Nate and tell him to publish the story. He'll have to repay me after I put the person who tried to kill him behind bars," Ivy said, but she wasn't so sure, especially because he wouldn't be thrilled with her once he found out who she really was.

"And why should I trust you?" Max said.

"You just can," Ivy said. "Please, Max. You have nothing to lose here, and you have more money to gain."

Ivy waited while Max thought. "You know what, this whole thing is more trouble than it's worth," Max said. "I don't care about protecting this guy, and I'm in a good mood. It was his cousin, Tripp. And he was pretty mad it didn't work. It sounded like he was going to try again. I would watch your boyfriend's back if I were you."

"He's not my boy-" Ivy started to say, but Max had hung up. She slowly lowered the phone, feeling panic rise inside of her.

Nate would never suspect his own cousin. He could try again any time. Nate needed protection now more than ever.

She didn't care what Nate said, he was going to listen to her. He had to, or something very bad was going to happen.

"Come on, pick up," Ivy said nervously as the phone rang. "Please, Nate…"

But Nate didn't pick up, and Ivy didn't blame him. She had been harsher to him than she intended to be at the hospital. He was probably furious at her. Ivy didn't want him to die hating her…

No, she couldn't think like that. Nate was going to be fine. She just needed to go back to the hospital and find him. She just hoped she would get to him before Tripp could.

But even if she got to him on time, would he even believe her over his own cousin?

**AN: I don't have much time today, so I'll do my "Thanks for…" next chapter. Oh, and sorry I took so long to post this, I've been really busy. Please review! **


	14. A Way Out

**Disclaimer: I don't own GG. **

**Chapter 14 **

It was dark out, but Chuck hardly noticed. He never did anymore. The difference between night and day really wasn't important to him, not now that Blair was getting worse and worse.

Dream Nate hadn't been home much lately, so Chuck was spread out in the living room with his work. He didn't even realize that he wasn't alone until Serena spoke from behind him.

"This is all your fault," she said.

Chuck whipped around to see her giving him an accusing stare. He turned back around and hurriedly gathered his papers together. "What do you mean?" he asked as he did so, trying to sound casual.

"It's about Blair," Serena said.

"What about her? Is she okay?" Chuck said quickly, turning around to face her again.

Serena slowly shook her head, still staring at him.

"Why are you shaking your head? What happened to her?" Chuck asked.

Serena only stared at him. "It's your fault," she repeated. "If you hadn't caused her all this stress lately…"

"What do you mean?" Chuck asked, confused.

Serena glanced at the papers Chuck was still trying to conceal.

"I know what you've been up to, Chuck. We all do."

Chuck slowly met her gaze, wondering what she meant.

"You told her that her own life was a dream. You told her we were fake. You ruined her life with your insane ramblings. And now something very bad is going to happen to her. You'll find her at the bridge, but it may be too late."

"Too late?" Chuck asked, his eyes widening. He had to go help her. He got up and hurried to the elevator, but Serena stepped in front of him.

"You're not going anywhere," Serena said.

"How do you know about the dream?" Chuck asked slowly, realizing something here wasn't right….even less right than it had been in the past.

"Blair has been telling Nate and I all about it. All about how the crash changed you, how you're crazy and how you've been feeding her drugs and lies….your relationship with her has always been messed up, Chuck, but I never knew you would take it this far. She never wanted to be with you. You forced her into a relationship every time."

"You know that's not true," Chuck said, knowing this wasn't really Serena and she may not know at all but still wanting to talk some sense into her. "I love Blair. I would never drug her, and I wouldn't lie to her about something like this. And anyways, Blair was the one to try to get me into a relationship first. I didn't want to commit until she helped me realize that I wanted to be with her. She wants to be in a relationship with me as much as I want one with her."

"You're delusional," Serena shook her head. "Blair was right."

"Blair didn't tell you those things. She wouldn't. I don't believe you."

"How else would I know about your crazy theory?"

"I don't know," Chuck admitted. "Maybe because this is a drea-"

"Don't say it," Nate said sharply from behind him.

Chuck slowly turned around. "You too?" he asked. "What is this, an intervention? Please, I need to get to Blair."

Nate shook his head.

"Look, I know you're lying!" Chuck said. "And I don't know why she's on that bridge, but I know that I need to help her."

"No one can help her now," Lily said, joining Nate and Serena around Chuck.

"Lily?" Chuck asked in disbelief.

Lily smiled, but there was something disconcerting about it.

"What did you do to her?" Chuck asked slowly. "If you did something-"

"_You_ did something," Serena said. "Not us. When she's dead, it'll be your fault."

"She's not dead yet," Chuck said. "Please, let me save her. Why won't you let me go?"

"I told you, she can't be saved," Lily said. "You ruined her."

"I know I did. I know I have," Chuck said in a rush. "Many times before. But she was never completely destroyed. She always recovered. But this time isn't like the rest. I've hurt her before, but not now. I'm doing the opposite. I've spent the past few weeks spending all of my time trying to save her!"

Serena, Nate, and Lily advanced towards Chuck.

"Is that what you think?" Serena asked quietly, raising an eyebrow.

"You're dangerous, Chuck," Nate said. "A danger to us, a danger to yourself, a danger to the world…you shouldn't be here."

"I don't want to be here!" Chuck yelled, frustrated and worried. "Not in this room, not in this weird world I was thrown into! Let me leave already! And let her go!"

"We can't," Nate said. "But we'll let you go."

"What do you mean?" Chuck asked cautiously.

"If you stay in this room, and you don't try to go after Blair, then we'll send you back."

"No," Chuck said quickly. "Not without her."

"You just said you wanted to leave."

"I'm not leaving without her," Chuck said firmly.

"She may leave you anyways. And then you'll be stuck here, all alone."

"I'm already stuck here, all alone."

"You don't have to be. We'll send you back."

"I would never leave Blair alone in this place, or anywhere. I would sacrifice my life for hers. And if that's not proof that our love is real, I don't know what is," he said, and pushed past Serena and ran to the elevator, hitting the door close button what seemed like a million times before it would close. But he made it. He was safe, for now. He just hoped that Blair was too.

Had they been lying? Was Blair really in danger, or had they just been trying to get him to leave without her?

He didn't understand it. Why would his own mind turn his best friends against him? Why would Blair be in danger in his mind? It just didn't add up. Was there something else influencing him? Painkillers? Or other people talking to him?

And had they finally admitted that it was all a dream? They had offered to get him out, so they had in a way…but they had also said that him saying it was a dream was what had put Blair in danger.

Chuck ran to a taxi, and then ran to the bridge. He hoped that she wouldn't be there at the same time as hoping that she would. If she was there, he could save her, but she would be in danger and he may be too late. If she wasn't there, she may already be gone, or they may have been lying and she could be anywhere. Chuck wouldn't know where to find her.

He wasn't sure what they had meant when they said she was on the bridge. He didn't think that she was going to jump. Was someone trying to push her off? It seemed more like her health in the real world was getting worse and she was getting close to dying. Maybe there would be some sort of grim reaper trying to push her off, or something. That seemed again like a bad horror movie, the kind of thing he would have thought was stupid if he wasn't actually living it. But even if he saved her from what was trying to push her, would he be able to stop her from dying in the real world?

As he approached the bridge, he thought he saw two figures at the edge. One was dressed in white and one was in black, but Chuck couldn't tell if either of them were Blair. They seemed to be fighting, and suddenly the one in white got very close to the edge and slipped. Chuck heard a scream.

Blair's scream.

**AN: Sorry I haven't posted lately, I've been really busy. I don't really like this chapter, but I think the next even chapter is better, and I like the rest of the odd chapters. Next chapter will be Blair's wedding to Louis. Please review! **

**Thanks for… **

**Reviewing: ElodieBCA and movinggirl**

**Story Alert: VanillaCokeQueen, mittina, movinggirl, Nyctptb, and hoesovrbros8**

**Favorite Story: mittina and AquarianAir **


	15. Takedown

**Chapter 15-Takedown **

**Blair **

It had finally come. Her wedding day. The day she had dreamed about and planned since she was a little girl. But back then, she had thought that she would be marrying the love of her life. And even though Blair had the perfect flowers, and the perfect dress, and the perfect cake, she was missing that one final piece: the perfect groom.

The perfect groom had been Nate in her mind for a long time. After that, it had been Chuck….she didn't think as much about marriage then, but when she did she had known that it would be a perfect wedding. And with Louis...well, a royal wedding is about as good as you can get.

Right?

But right now she would give it all away, the flowers, the dress, everything, even the crown sitting on the vanity in front of her, to be at Chuck's bedside instead. She just wanted him to wake up. But she couldn't give it up. Going through with this wedding was the last shot she had at saving him. Blair was confident that as soon as she said "I do", Chuck would open his eyes.

But what if he didn't?

"You don't have to do this, B," Serena sighed as she walked in. "I don't mind going out there right now and telling everyone to go home. We can be at the hospital in a few minutes."

Blair's heart ached. She was grateful for having such a great friend in Serena, but she wished that people would stop questioning her decision. It didn't make it any easier. Didn't they know that she wanted so badly to agree with them and run to Chuck?

"I love Louis. I want to marry him," Blair told her.

"No, you don't. You want to be with Chuck. I still don't understand why you can't be with him…I know you're scared that you might give up everything for him and then end up losing him too, but no matter what you'll still have your friends and family at your side. And you have to follow your heart."

"I don't have to do anything," Blair said, picking up the tiara and putting it on her head. "Except marry Louis, which is what I plan on doing. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to fix my hair."

"Your hair looks perfect," Serena insisted. "Please, B. I know our parents make it look like no big deal, but you don't want to go through a divorce. Marriage is serious. You should only marry someone you know you want to spend the rest of your life with."

"I know that, S, and that's what I'm doing," Blair said, and turned around to face Serena. "Please, stop questioning my decision. I'm going to marry him no matter what, and I need your support."

Serena stared at her for a moment, looking concerned. Finally, she nodded. "If that's what you really want, Blair, then I'm behind you."

Blair gave her a small smile. "Good," she said. "Now help me fix my makeup. Is it even? One eye looks darker to me."

"You look perfect," Serena said. "Stop stressing! This is your wedding day. You should be happy. You're going to be a real live princess!"

Blair smiled again. "Yes, I am," she said. "But I'm not going to be anything but late if we don't start this thing soon. Tell them I'm ready."

"Oh," Serena said, her face falling.

"What?"

"Nate's not here yet. We were supposed to meet here an hour ago. I was hoping we could wait for him, but I'm not so sure he's coming."

"Why not?" Blair frowned. Nate had really helped her recover in the hospital, and even though she didn't see him much now that she was home and he spent most of his time with Chuck, she was still grateful to him and wished he was there. She had broken down and called him about Chuck more than once, and he had always given her support.

"I don't think he wants to leave the hospital. To be honest, I don't even think he knows what day it is anymore. But I was hoping he would come."

"Me too…but if he's not coming, he's not coming. And anyways, maybe he got here in the past few minutes when you were here with me."

"Maybe," Serena said, sounding doubtful. "I'll go tell them to start."

She gave Blair one last smile and walked out the door.

Blair looked at herself in the mirror. This was the last time she would see herself as an unmarried woman. She felt sure that divorcing Louis would have the same effect as not marrying him at all, and that even if Chuck did wake up he would be in danger again as soon as she signed her name on the divorce papers. She would be married to Louis for the rest of her life, she was sure of it.

Blair took a deep breath and got up. It was no use putting off the inevitable. She had to walk down that aisle, and it was better to do it sooner rather than later.

She got to the back of the church and found her father and Cyrus waiting for her, as requested. She smiled at them, and her fake grin started to be real as it really hit her: she was going to be a princess. She was going to marry a man who loved her and who would make her happy. And more than anything, she was going to be safe. She would never be as happy or as in love as she would be with Chuck, but she would be safe and content. And she couldn't ask for much more than that. She hoped that when Chuck woke up, he would find someone who could do the same for him, just like he had requested at his father's wedding to Lily so long ago.

And in addition to all of that, Chuck was going to wake up. She was going to save him, and that was something worth smiling over.

She walked down the aisle and looked up at Louis smiling at her. She knew she in no way deserved to be walking up there to a man who loved her and trusted her when she had spent so much time lying to him. She would lie to him for the rest of her life. But she couldn't help it…not now, anyways. Sometimes the truth hurt too much, and it was better to lie. Telling the truth would not only hurt Louis, but Chuck too. The price to pay for being honest was too high, and it wouldn't even be her paying the price.

She finally reached Louis, and smiled at him. This was it. The moment she had been waiting her whole life for. The moment that would prove her pact. The moment Chuck would wake up. The moment she would become a princess. The moment she would marry someone who loved her. The moment-

"I object!" someone cried from the back of the church, and all eyes turned to the person stumbling in.

"Nate?" Blair said in surprise. She looked at Louis for a moment, her mouth wide open, then looked back to Nate. "What's going o-"

"It's Chuck," Nate panted, running to meet her. "We have to go, there's no time, it may be too late-"

"Nate, slow down, what are you talking about?' Blair asked quietly as he reached her. "This is the middle of my wedding! Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait!"

"It can't," Nate insisted, lowering his voice too. "I was just at the hospital, and I overheard the doctors talking, they're taking Chuck off life support today, I tried to stop it but they wouldn't listen to me or tell me who signed the papers saying they could, but it must be Lily-we have to stop her, we-"

"What time was this?" Blair said sharply.

"Just now, and I think they're supposed to do it soon, but I don't know what time, please Blair, I wouldn't have come if it wasn't important…he needs you. I need you. I can't do this without you."

Blair looked at him. His eyes were pleading, with dark circles under them. Blair wondered when the last time he slept was. She suddenly felt even more guilty about the whole situation. Nate had been by Chuck's side from the beginning, while Blair had stayed home and planned her wedding to another man. But now was her chance to make it up to Chuck. And once she stopped what was happening, she would resume her wedding with Louis and he would wake up. He had to.

"You don't have to convince me," Blair said softly, and relief flooded Nate's face.

Blair turned to Louis, who looked completely taken by surprise. "Blair, this is our wedding day," he said. "I need you here. We can't have a wedding without the bride!"

"I'm sorry, Louis," she said, kissing him on the cheek. "But you're not the only one who needs me right now. There are others who need me more. I'll be back."

She turned back to Nate. "Lead the way," she said, and started walking out of the church amid gasps of the guests, gesturing for Dan and Serena to follow.

"I'll call my mom," Serena said once they got out of the church and explained everything. "I can probably talk her out of it."

Blair nodded. She was starting to feel stupid. She had just walked out of her own royal wedding for something that may just be solved with a simple phone call.

"Serena?" came a voice from behind them.

"Mom?" Serena said in surprise, turning around. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming?"

"I changed my mind. I was hoping I wasn't too late, I was just going to sneak in the back, but it appears it hasn't started yet…" she said, looking at Blair.

"It has," Dan said quickly. "But Nate stopped it because we were worried about Chuck."

Lily's brow furrowed. "Aren't we all? It's no reason to stop the wedding."

"We were under the impression he was going to be taken off of life support today," Blair said, feeling increasingly silly. "We thought you must have signed the papers."

"I would never do that without consulting all of you," Lily said, offended.

"So you didn't tell the doctors to take him off of it today?"

Lily shook her head. "There must have been some kind of misunderstanding. Why don't we go in so Blair can get married and we can go see Chuck later?"

"We're not going anywhere!" Nate said. "Whether it was Lily or not, I know what I heard, and Chuck is going to die today if we don't do something."

"What do you want us to do?" Dan asked. "There's no way to stop it. We don't even know who told them they could!"

"It had to have been a family member," Lily said.

"Chuck doesn't have any family. The closest family he has is you and me," Serena said, gesturing to her and Lily. "And neither of us signed anything."

"You're not his only family," Blair said quietly. "There's still Jack."

Lily's eyes widened. "I didn't even think about that….I knew he was in town, but after he disappeared that first night at the hospital I thought we'd seen the end of him."

"With Jack, it's never that easy," said Nate.

"Wait, Jack's in town and no one told me?" Blair said angrily.

"We didn't want to stress you out," said Serena. "And anyways, I think we'd all forgotten after the first night."

"How do you forget about Jack Bass?" Blair asked.

"It doesn't matter," Nate said urgently. "We have to come up with a plan. It's going to be a lot harder to get Jack to change his mind than Lily."

"Not necessarily," Dan said. "If I remember right, you guys are pretty good at schemes and takedowns."

"But Jack is a worthy opponent," Blair said. "He's beaten us before."

"Not this time," said Nate firmly. "What's the plan, Blair?"

"Why me?"

"You're the queen of schemes," Serena said.

Blair waved that off, not having time to be flattered. "Well, first we have to figure out what Jack is gaining by taking Chuck off life support. He wouldn't do anything without a reward in it for him."

"Would he be next in line to get Bass Industries? That seems to be the common goal for him," Nate suggested.

"No, he knows Lily would never let that happen….and I'm sure Chuck has left it for Lily in his will."

"Chuck has a will?" Serena asked, surprised.

"He's a billionaire, he has to. If he died young, he'd still want his money going to the people he wanted it to go to."

"So if he's not after Bass Industries, what is he after?" Dan asked.

Blair thought for a moment. "It could be a trap," she finally realized.

"What?"

"He's luring me there. Getting me is also a common goal of his. I don't know what his plan is from there, but he could get me to do a lot by holding Chuck's life over my head…"

"Like what?" Nate asked.

Blair looked at him. "You might be right, actually," she said. "Maybe he is after Bass Industries. Maybe he thinks I can get it for him. I don't know….the important thing is that we don't fall into his trap."

"But how do we do that? He's going to find away to threaten you no matter what."

"You go first," Blair told Dan, Lily, and Serena, thinking fast. "Tell him you heard about Chuck being taken off life support, and that you're there to stop it. Mention that I'm on my honeymoon…say 'I can't believe you'd try to ruin Blair's honeymoon' or something, I don't know. He might back down when he finds out he won't be able to threaten me next. But it won't take long for him to figure out that the wedding was put on hold…which is why I'll be right behind him, ready to take him down."

"With what? What do you have on him?"

"I'll think of something," Blair said. "But you better hurry, in case I'm wrong and he really just wants Chuck dead."

"You're never wrong when it comes to this kind of stuff," Serena said, but she hurried off with Dan.

"What about me?" Nate asked.

"You're coming with me," Blair said, grabbing his arm and moving forward to hail down a cab. "I'm going to need some help."

**Nate **

Nate didn't even glance at the cab driver as he gave him the hospital name.

"It feels different," Blair said after a moment.

Nate didn't have to ask what she meant. He nodded. "A takedown just isn't the same without him."

Blair looked down. "I miss him," she whispered.

Nate put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "We all do," he said. "We just have to hang in there. It'll all work out."

"Will it?" Blair said softly, her eyes meeting Nate's.

Before Nate could think of a response that would be both truthful and consoling, his phone beeped. He glanced at the screen and saw that it was a text message from Charlie. Annoyed, he ignored it, but then saw that he had twenty missed calls from her. He debated calling her back, then decided that whatever Charlie wanted, it wasn't as important as what was going on with Blair and Chuck right now.

"Sorry," he told Blair. "That was just-"

He was interrupted by yet another beep of his phone, and resisting the urge to groan, he saw that he had another message from Charlie. He opened it, if only to delete it, but froze as he saw what it said.

_TRIPP IS BEHIND THE CRASH. WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T GO ANYWHERE NEAR HIM OR MAX, AND STAY WHERE YOU ARE. THEY'RE GOING TO TRY AGAIN. CALL ME WHEN YOU GET THIS, I'M GETTING WORRIED. _

_-Charlie _

Nate looked up from the message, meeting Blair's confused stare.

"Is everything okay?" she asked cautiously.

"No, everything is not okay," Nate said. "In fact-"

He glanced away from Blair and his eyes met with the driver.

"No," he said quietly.

Breathing heavily, he grabbed for the door. "We need to get out!" he yelled.

"Nate, what is going on?" Blair asked as they both heard a click, and saw the lock go down. Nate tried desperately to pull it up, but it wouldn't budge.

"Try yours!" he yelled at Blair.

"Please tell me what's going on, you're scaring me!"

"Try the lock!" Nate yelled again, and Blair obliged, but with no luck.

"Let us out!" Nate yelled at the driver. "Please!"

"You're not going anywhere," Max said, a grin spreading across his face as he pointed ahead of them, "except over that bridge."

**AN: Sorry, I know I haven't posted in forever! I'll post the thank yous next chapter, I'm in a rush now. Please review! **


	16. Game Over

**Chapter 16-Game Over **

He ran faster.

He saw someone in all black with a hood on crouching over the edge, and to his relief as he got closer he saw that Blair was still holding on, but that the person was trying to get her to let go.

"No, please…" he heard Blair beg, and he ran even faster, reaching the person and pushing him to the ground before grabbing Blair and helping her up.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly as Blair panted next to him.

"I didn't need saving," she said after a minute, glaring at him.

"What do you mean?" Chuck asked, shocked. "Blair, that guy was trying to push you!" he said, gesturing beside him, but the man had disappeared. Chuck felt a rush of anger that he had gotten away, but then he remembered that the hooded figure most likely wasn't a person at all, and represented death or bad health, and that it was good that he was gone. "Never mind, I'm just glad you're okay," Chuck said in relief, but froze as he looked at Blair, noticing the long white dress with lots of lace and frills that she was wearing, and the crown and veil on her head. "Why are you in a wedding dress?"

"You need to wear a wedding dress to get married," Blair said, glancing behind Chuck.

Chuck turned and saw that Lily, Serena, and Nate were rushing towards them. He was surprised to see that Dan had joined them, as he hadn't met dream-Dan yet and didn't know what to expect. Then again, he never knew what to expect, as he never knew what his mind would come up with next.

"Married? Who are you getting married to?" Chuck asked, worrying that the stress had gotten to Blair, and worried that the dream people were about to cause some trouble.

"Who do you think?" Blair said, pointing to the crown. "It was only the biggest wedding of the century."

"Louis? I thought you weren't marrying him. Blair, what's going on? This is a dream. Marriages aren't real. Louis isn't real here! And you said you don't even know where you are when you're not with me! It's all fake, Blair!" Chuck said, glancing nervously back at the dream people, who had almost reached them.

"I never said any of that that," Blair responded. "I told you I was marrying Louis, and that's what I did. I love him. And the only thing that's fake is our love, Chuck. I never really loved you."

Chuck stared at her in disbelief. It didn't matter what the others said to him, but Blair was real, and what she said meant something. Did she really mean what she was saying?

"Blair-"

"You were a burden and a disgrace to your father," Lily piped in, stepping next to Blair. "You disappointed him until the day he died."

Serena stepped next to Blair and helped her up. "He wasn't the only one who wasn't too fond of you," she said.

"We never wanted you in our group," Nate added. "We had to, because our parents were friends, but you never really fit in with us."

Dan stood next to Nate. "Your own father hated you. What does that say about the kind of person you are? You don't deserve to be alive. And you still haven't gained your father's approval. He would be disappointed in you. What do you think he would say about you punching out that window?"

"Don't act like you know my father," Chuck said through gritted teeth, even thought he knew that these people were from his own mind and knew Bart as well as he had. "And I don't know what he'd say, as he's dead." Chuck didn't like to be reminded of one of the worse nights of his life, and the things he had done on that night.

"What about you taking my little sister's virginity? What about taking advantage of her at that party? What about trying to do the same to Serena that same week? What about you declaring war on Blair? What about you cheating on Blair? What about you trading her for a hotel? What about-"

"Enough!" Chuck said. "I'm sorry! But those things are in the past. You don't need to remind me of them."

"You're despicable," Dan said.

"You treated me like one of your many cheap prostitutes," Blair said. "And I'll never forgive you for it. I never did. I hate you. And so does everybody else."

Chuck looked around at all of the hostile faces. The others he could believe, and even if their words hurt he knew it was only his own mind reminding him of his worst memories. But Blair? Why was she agreeing with them? It didn't make sense. Chuck stared at Blair's face, trying to figure out what was going on. Was this part of one of her schemes? Did she have a plan behind this? Maybe, somehow, she was trying to get them out of there. Or was she just mad that he wouldn't accept that she was dead? But she wasn't. Even if she couldn't hear the beeping. Even if-

"You're fake," Chuck whispered suddenly.

"So we've heard," Serena said. "We all know about your insane theory."

"No," Chuck said. "It's different now. It's not just you. You're all fake. Everything is fake. I knew it before, but I was only tricking myself on one last thing, and it's what's been keeping me here…"

He looked up at Blair. Beautiful, perfect, lovely, caring Blair. But this Blair wasn't his Blair. Blair could be cold, and harsh, and confusing, and even though this Blair was all of those things, all of the good and the bad, it wasn't his Blair.

Blair was only part of the illusion. The real Blair would never act like this. She wouldn't tell everyone he was crazy. She wouldn't marry Louis when she had chosen him. If she did marry Louis, she would tell him beforehand. And she wouldn't call their love fake…even when she was angry with him and wanted to choose Louis, she couldn't deny their love. A "great love" she had called it. A crazy one. She had called it many things, but never fake. And she never would.

The real Blair wasn't here. She was dead, or she was awake. He didn't want to leave this world where he had Blair to go into one where he may not, but he couldn't stay here with these people he had created, these twisted versions of his friends.

Blair had never been in dreamland with him. It had always been just him, alone. But he wasn't going to be alone anymore. He was leaving this place.

"You're fake," he told Blair. "You're fake too, just like the rest of them. I didn't see it because I didn't want to. You were all I had. But the truth is, I don't have you at all. None of you are my friends. But out there, I have people who are probably waiting at my hospital bed for me to wake up. People who care about me. The real Blair loves me, and I love her. She chose me. Our love isn't fake….her love with Louis is fake." Chuck turned to Dan. "And my father would be proud of me for who I've become….what I've done with the company, being in a serious relationship, putting Russell behind bars…Everything you're saying is just lies. And I'm done believing them. I've spent my whole life doing that. Now it's time for the truth."

And looking around at them all, he knew what the truth was. Everything he had been trying desperately to figure out over the past few weeks was suddenly crystal clear. He had to battle his worst fears about Blair not loving him and marrying Louis and his father not being proud of him to get out of his own head. Blair was lying to him this whole time. When Blair had told him, begged him not to leave her earlier, she was doing it because she was trying to trap him and keep him there. And when she had told him not to call their bluff and not to die in a dream, she was lying too. He'd died in his dreams before, and he'd only woken up. He had been right from the beginning, and she had stopped him from escaping.

He looked over the edge of the bridge, then back at everyone. They all looked angry.

"Game over," Chuck smiled at dream-Blair.

"Game's not over until I say it is."

"Then have fun playing with yourself," Chuck said, "because I won."

And then he climbed over the edge. He looked back at them all one last time. Their faces seemed to blur before him and everything seemed to darken.

There was a bright white light and voices everywhere.

But through all the chaos, someone was talking to him.

The voice sounded familiar. It sounded like Blair. But then the scene reappeared before him and he saw that the dream-Blair's mouth was closed. Everything was silent.

Too silent.

_The beeping_.

Everything was turning dark, and Chuck started to feel dizzy. The beeping was gone. What did that mean? If the beeping was gone, that meant the heart monitor wasn't detecting a heartbeat. All around him things were turning to darkness. He looked down, and the water just seemed to be a dark expanse below him.

They had finally taken him off life support. Just when he had figured out how to get out.

Not wanting to waste another second, Chuck stepped forward and fell into the darkness. And he wondered if he had really won after all.

**AN: Okay, so I don't really know if there's any interest in this story anymore but I already had this chapter written so I decided to post it. I have the next written too, but not the last chapter or the epilogue yet. I'll probably write at least the last chapter when I get the chance, but I don't know. Oh and sorry it's been a while since my last post, I've been pretty busy. **

**Thanks for… **

**Reviewing: RauhlPrincess and Liya **

**Favorite Story: offtheride and ozPrincessa**

**Story Alert: offtheride, Bluck2nite, and randa10291 **

**Please review! **


	17. One Last Bridge to Cross

**Chapter 17-One Last Bridge to Cross **

"You're insane," Blair said. "If you drive us off that bridge, you'll die too."

"Who said anything about driving off of it?" Max asked.

"Why are you doing this? You don't owe Tripp anything," Nate said.

"Tripp? What does he have to do with this?" Blair asked. "And speaking of that, what does Charlie's crazy ex have to do with this? And what is this exactly? Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?"

"Shut her up or I will," Max said.

"I am about to be the princess of Monaco!" Blair yelled. "I demand that you let us go right now, or I'll-"

"You're not going to be anything when I'm through with you."

"Whatever reason you're doing this, it has nothing to do with Blair. Why can't you leave her out of this?" Nate pleaded.

Max shrugged. "It's not my fault she got in the car with you."

"So let her out!"

"Can't do that, I'm afraid. It's too late now. She might ruin the plan if I let her go."

"And what is the plan, exactly? You kill us and then what? You're going to go to jail for this. It doesn't seem worth it to me."

"I'll decide what's worth it and what's not," Max said.

They drove for a moment in silence. Nate's mind was racing. In moments, Max was going to hurt him and Blair. What could he do to save them? He didn't want to try to attack Max now because he was afraid that it would mess up his driving and they would get in a crash, and he had already seen the damage a crash could cause not too long ago. Then again, maybe the damage caused by a crash would be less than the damage caused by Max. But looking over at Blair, Nate couldn't do it. He would have to try to attack Max after they got out of the car, which he found he didn't have to wait long for.

"Don't try anything," Max said quietly. "You'll regret it."

He got out of the car and Nate got ready, only to see that he took Blair out first.

"Stay where you are if you know what's good for you!" Nate heard Max yell, then saw him turn around. "Move over," he yelled to Nate, who moved over into the spot Blair had just vacated.

Nate was so deep in thought about how to save them that he almost didn't see Blair get up and jump on Max. Almost. But not quite. And he was glad he didn't miss it.

"Leave…us….alone!" Blair shrieked, hitting him on the head with her shoe.

Nate would've laughed if the situation wasn't so dangerous. This was the Blair Waldorf her knew. He shouldn't have let himself forget that this was Blair he was with. She could protect herself. He shouldn't have underestimated her.

Nate jumped forward and punched Max, who fell down. Blair scrambled off of him and held her shoe in the air, ready to strike again. Max grabbed it and pulled her down, pinning her to the ground. He pushed her aside and jumped up, ready to face Nate.

"Careful, Nate," Max said. "You wouldn't want to make a wrong step, now would you?"

"What do you mean?" Nate asked, but got his answer as he looked around. Max hadn't lied. They were exactly where he said they would be. But there was something that Nate hadn't expected; Max had cornered him at the edge of the bridge. In all the confusion, he hadn't noticed. And there was another thing; they were all alone. Not a car was in sight. Nate looked back at Max.

"No one here to hear you scream," Max said. "I had the road blocked off for 'construction'."

"How'd you do that?" Nate asked, stalling. He had seen this kind of things in movies. If he could stall for long enough, help might come before it was too late. He also might be able to distract him.

"I have friends in high places. I think you know him, actually. Tripp, I think his name was?"

"Yeah yeah, I know all about his betrayal. What I don't understand is why you'd go along with this? What do you gain? Money? You know it'll all be taken away when the cops find you."

"They're not going to find me."

"You don't think Tripp will throw you under the bus to save his own ass? Think again. He has no loyalty to you."

"I already have plenty of money. I'll be out of here before the cops get here, and Tripp won't know where to find me."

"Then why stick around? Why go through with it, if you've already been paid?"

"There's more money in store for me after the job."

"You're not a murderer, Max," Nate said, trying a different appeal. "You don't want our deaths on your hands."

"I didn't say I was going to kill you," Max said.

"What?" Nate said. "You've cornered me on the edge of a bridge. If you don't want to kill me, what are you planning on doing?"

"All in due time, Nathanial," Max smirked. "Meanwhile, keep your mouth shut, and-"

"He's going to save us," Nate said suddenly.

"What?"

"That's what all this is," Nate said, everything clear now. Tripp was going to save them at the last second, making him look like a hero, and Max was going to take the money and run. It was going much farther than Nate had ever imagined his cousin would go, but desperate men go to desperate measures, and in any case this plan had worked before, even if it had been on a smaller scale. And Nate didn't really believe his cousin was a killer. "It's all a game-Blair!"

Nate noticed Blair a second before Tripp did. She was on her phone, speaking rapidly with someone on the other end, presumably the police.

"Blair, stop!" Nate said. If she called the police, they might catch Tripp first, and then he wouldn't be there to save them, and Max might push them off, thinking Tripp had it all worked out. But Blair didn't appear to have heard him. In fact, she didn't appear to even have heard the last few minutes of the conversation.

"I'm not positive where we are, but you need to find Tripp van der Bilt," she said quickly, "He's the one who's behind all this."

"Who are you talking to?" Max demanded as he advanced on her. "Give me the phone!"

"No!" Blair said defiantly. "Soon the police will be here, and you'll get what you deserve."

"Not before you do," Max said, and lunged at her.

Seeing his opportunity, Nate grabbed Tripp and whipped him around. Dodging him as Max lunged at him instead of Blair, Nate tried to tell Blair what was happening.

"Blair, tell them not to find Tripp! You have to-"

But Max had seen an opportunity, just as Nate had. Nate had allowed himself to be distracted. Before he could tell Blair what was going on, before he could warn her not to ruin the plan, he found himself on the ground, with the world growing dark around him.

**Ivy **

"Charlie, I really can't talk right now, I-"

"This is really important," Ivy assured Serena over the phone. "I wouldn't be calling if it wasn't, I know you're at Blair's wedding. Do you know where Nate is? I've been trying to reach him but he's been ignoring all my calls, and it's really important that I talk to him. Is he at the wedding with you? Please, I just need to know that he's okay."

"He's fine," Serena said. "He's with Blair. They got in a taxi right behind us, I'm sure I'll see him in a second."

"In a second? How long have you been waiting for him? Wasn't he right behind you?"

"Well yeah, but he could have been held up. Blair has some scheme in mind, she's probably just talking through the plan with him."

"How long have they been gone?" Ivy asked urgently.

Serena paused. "A half hour."

"Crap," Ivy said. "Alright, thanks for your help, Serena. I have to go."

"Wait, Charlie, what's this about? Is something wrong?"

"I have to go!" Ivy said quickly, hanging up. As she started to dial Nate's number again, her phone beeped with a call from Georgina.

"Where have you been?" Ivy answered with. "I've been calling you for days! I need your help! I thought you agreed to help me on this?"

"I know, and I haven't stopped," Georgina said. "I got your messages. You're looking for Tripp, right? Well, look no further. He's just leaving the Spectator office."

"Seriously?" Ivy asked in surprise. "How do you know?"

"He was spotted there."

"What, like on the Gossip Girl spotted list? I've been checking it like crazy and I haven't seen anything."

"That's because it wasn't posted," Georgina said. "It's not interesting enough. To some. But one person's trash is another person's treasure."

"How do you know all this?" Ivy asked suspiciously.

"The less you know, the better," Georgina said. "Now go find Tripp. I'll meet you there."

Ivy started running towards the Spectator office. She wasn't far away, and she knew it'd be better to go on foot so that she could see the people around the building better. Tripp had already left, so going to the building might not help. She just hoped he hadn't hopped into a taxi, as she saw the man right in front of her doing…

"Hey!" she yelled, realizing who the man was and yanking him away from the taxi.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked angrily. "I have somewhere to be."

"Yeah, I'll bet you do," Georgina said, grabbing his other arm.

"That was fast," Ivy noted.

"Same goes for you," Georgina said. "Now follow us. We have a lot of questions, and you're going to give us answers. First off, where is Nate Archibald? We know you hired a guy named Max to take the brake fluid out of his car. And we have pictures to prove it. If you don't tell us where Nate is right now, we're going to the police."

"No, please don't," Tripp said, panicked. "If you do, Nate dies."

"Is that a threat?" Ivy asked.

"No, I don't want him to die either! It just has to look like he's going to for the plan to work!"

"What plan?" Georgina asked.

"First tell us where Nate is!" Ivy yelled.

"I'll take you to him," Tripp said. "Please, I never wanted to hurt anyone. If you call the police it'll be too late. I have to go now to save him. You can come with me."

Ivy glanced up at Georgina, who nodded.

"Get in the car," Ivy demanded, letting go of him. Georgina held on tight and pushed him into the taxi after Ivy. She got in behind him and let Tripp take it from there, holding onto him tight the whole time.

"What are you doing?" Tripp asked nervously as Ivy took out her phone and dialed a number.

"Calling a friend of mine," Ivy responded. "Hi, Officer, this is Ivy Dickens. The man you're looking for is Tripp van der Bilt. He hired an old boyfriend of mine named Max to take the brake fluid out of Nate's car, but Chuck and Blair took the wrong limo that night and got in the crash meant for Nate. I've got Tripp now, along with a confession from him."

"Where are you?" The officer said, sounding taken aback at all the information.

"I'm in a taxi."

"Where are you going?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Ivy, I don't have to remind you that-"

"I know what's at stake here," Ivy insisted. "Most importantly, my friend's life. I'm going to worry about that first. I'll call you as soon as I fix this mess."

"Ivy-"

Ivy hung up.

"Looks like you might actually get out of this unscathed after all," Georgina commented. "You've made a police officer play by your rules and came out on top. Maybe you're not such an amateur after all."

"It's not over yet," Ivy said, looking out the window at the bridge approaching. "We've still got one last bridge to cross…"

**Blair **

"Help!" Blair screamed as she fell to the ground. "Somebody!"

"No one's here," Max said, pushing her further to the edge. "No prince here with his shining armor to save you now."

"You won't get away with this," Blair said, struggling to get out of his grasp. "Louis will get revenge for this. My family will get revenge for this. They won't stop until you're buried."

"You'll be buried first," Max said, pushing her further.

Blair screamed as she felt her knees fall over the edge. She tried to pull herself back up with her arms and upper body, but Max wasn't having it. He pushed her again and her upper body followed her legs, so that just her arms were holding on. She desperately tried to find something to grasp, but she couldn't hold anything else with Max holding her hands. And she knew it was seconds before he would let go.

"Please," she begged, and thought she saw some guilt in his eyes. "You don't have to do this."

She saw him hesitate. "Please," she said one more time, but he shook his head.

"Say goodbye, princess," he said, letting one of her hands go.

"No!" Blair screamed, breathing heavily. She felt as if she was having a panic attack, feeling as if she was already falling even though she still had one slipping hand keeping her held up. She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. But she didn't want to spend her last moments thinking about something bad. She thought of Chuck, and all of the happy times with him. None of the bad things mattered, in the end, because they loved each other. And that love would never end, not even with the end of one of their lives. Blair hoped that he would wake up, and that he would be able to live the life that she would never get to finish. If she had to die, then couldn't he have the rest of her life? She was willing to give it to him. She just wanted him to wake up, and maybe this was what would finally do it. She wished that they could both live. She didn't understand why all of this had suddenly happened. Why did they have to go through this? Why would one have to live without the other when they had their whole lives ahead of them to be happy and in love?

Head spinning, Blair braced herself. "Help," she said quietly for the last time, her energy gone, starting to feel dizzy. "Please…"

But as her hand slipped, someone else grabbed her and pulled her up. Blair opened her eyes for a moment before she could bear it no longer. Just before she passed out, she managed to ask a few more questions. Was it her imagination? She certainly felt like she was falling, but was she really? She didn't know where she was or what was happening anymore. She didn't feel as if any of it was real. It couldn't be. She had to be falling, or she had to be dead, because the last time she had checked, Chuck Bass had been in the hospital, completely unresponsive and in a coma, about to be taken off of his last chance of survival.

Not leaning over her just after saving her life.

**AN: I really don't like this chapter for some reason, idk y… **

**I hope you're not too disappointed that Tripp isn't a huge villain after all. I didn't think he would really want to kill Nate, so that's why I made it so that it was all part of a bigger plan. **

**I'm like halfway through the next chapter, then I still have to write the epilogue. Sorry it's been so long since I last posted! I'll try to be quicker with the next chapter. **

**Thanks to everyone for reviewing and alerting and stuff! I don't think anyone reads the "thanks for…" part so I don't think I'll do it anymore, but I still really appreciate it **

**Please review! **


	18. The End

**Chapter 18 **

**Blair **

"Wake up, Blair," Blair heard from somewhere close to her. "It's okay, we're all okay, they've got Max…"

Blair opened her eyes to see Nate leaning over her with a worried expression.

"Nate…?" Blair asked, then abruptly sat up. "Where's Chuck?"

"Chuck?" Nate asked, confused.

"He was right here a second ago! He saved me, he pulled me up!"

Nate shook his head. "You pulled yourself up, Blair. And you knocked out Max."

Blair shook her head vigorously. "You were knocked out, you didn't see…he was here, I'm telling you…"

"Chuck is in the hospital," Nate said gently. "Remember? "

"Of course I remember!" Blair said crossly. "But he was here, just a moment ago!"

"Blair-"

"Prove it! Prove he wasn't here!"

"Chuck would never have left you here with someone who was trying to hurt you, Blair," Nate said. "That should be proof enough. Now let's get you to a doctor or something and make sure you'll alright-"

"I'm fine!" Blair insisted. "Let's go to the hospital. Then we can ask the doctors if Chuck's woken up, or…"

Blair trailed off as she remembered why she had gotten into the taxi with Nate in the first place.

"Or they've taken him off life support. Quick, let's go!"

Blair grabbed Nate's arm and dragged him to a waiting cab.

"Don't you want to give a statement to the police?" Nate asked.

"I'm assuming you already have, and anyways we can talk to them later…wait a minute, is that Serena's cousin?" Blair asked, spotting the blonde talking to the police.

"Charlie?" Nate asked, starting to turn around.

"Never mind, it's not important!" Blair said, pulling him into the cab. "We'll have time for talking later…right now we just have to make sure Chuck's okay…"

Nate seemed to want to protest more, and Blair could see that he knew it was no use trying to talk her out of something once she had it in her head. Nate sighed and allowed Blair to push him into the taxi. Blair shouted the hospital name to the driver as she got in next to Nate.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Blair said, but her mind was racing. There were a million thoughts whirring around in her head. The ones that came up most frequently were about Chuck, but there were others, too: What had just happened? Why had Nate told her to get off the phone with the police? What had he been trying to tell her before she was knocked out? And where was Max now?

"It was a good plan," Nate said, as if reading her thoughts. "It didn't work, but it was a good plan. It's just hard to believe that he'd be that desperate."

"Who?"

"Tripp," Nate explained. "Just like with the drowning man he saved. He saw that Grandfather was putting his power and faith in me now, and that he was being left behind. He was going to lose the election. So he set up a more elaborate plan, where he'd save us from a criminal who would get away. He paid Max to be that criminal. If the plan had worked, we'd be safe, but Tripp would be a hero, instead of in the back of a squad car. And it would have worked, if-"

"If I hadn't screwed it up," Blair said, catching on. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize-"

"No, of course you didn't," Nate said placatingly. "Anyways, it's all for the better. Tripp and Max didn't get away like they planned. They were exposed as the criminals they are."

"That's all well and good, but they weren't the only criminals we have the face," Blair said. "What are we going to do about Jack?"

Nate shrugged. "Play it by year. Talk to him. See what he wants."

"That's too simple," Blair said, frowning. "This is why Chuck and I scheme, and you and Serena….well, you and Serena do whatever it is the Nates and Serenas of the world do. You stand there and look pretty, I guess."

Nate almost laughed, and even Blair allowed a small smile. "At least that's what I used to think. Now I know that The Nates and Serenas of the world are hugely successful and get everything they've ever dreamed of. So do the Dan Humphreys."

"And the Blair Waldorfs?" Nate asked.

**Nate **

Blair was a shadow of who she usually was. She looked up at Nate, and Nate wasn't sure he had ever seen anyone sadder. The beautiful bride was still visible, but masking it was sadness, doubt, and hopelessness. Her white wedding dress was covered in dirt, and her hair was in tangles. The tiara on her head was lopsided, and her sleeves were ripped. But worse than any of that was the silence Nate got in response to his question. The Blair Waldorfs of the world were supposed to be more successful than all of them. That was the answer. And Blair knew that answer by heart. So why was she so silent?

"The jury's still out," Blair sighed finally. "The truth is, I'm nothing. I don't have a job, I'm falling behind in school ever since I got engaged to Louis, I'm probably no longer going to be a princess after walking out on my wedding today, and the man I love is probably going to die today. If he's not already dead."

"Hey," Nate said. "Don't think like that. Jack's not going to follow through on this."

"I have no way of knowing what Jack will or won't do," Blair said, looking at the cab driver, "because we're still blocks away from the hospital! Hurry up!"

Nate shook his head. The same Blair as always. Yet Blair wasn't usually one to be admitting defeat. You couldn't squash Blair down. You would never hear her say she was nothing. But she had said that just that a few moments ago.

Nate supposed it was true. If she lost Chuck today, she'd have lost a lot of things that meant the world to her. They all would. Losing Chuck would be a low blow to them all. But the other things….well, Nate needed to show Blair that she was more than all that. She didn't need to be a straight A student, or a princess, or head of a company to be Queen B, the girl with enough ambition to take her anywhere. The world didn't tell Blair what she could and couldn't be or do. She told the world.

But Nate didn't know how to say this. He doubted Blair would listen. And there was nothing much he could say to make her feel better about Chuck. He didn't want to lie and tell her that he'd be fine, because he really had no idea if he would be.

So he said nothing. When the car stopped, Blair wiped tears away and Nate finally decided on what to say. He touched her shoulder as she turned to open the door, and she turned back to face him.

"Whatever happens in there…." Nate started. "You still have me. You still have Serena. And Dan, too. And you're still Blair Waldorf, and no one tells Blair Waldorf she's nothing, especially not herself. None of us want anything bad to happen to Chuck. But I can't tell you that it won't. Just promise me that you won't block us out. We're together in this."

Blair nodded, took a deep breath, and turned to the door again. She hesitated in opening it, just for a moment, and Nate heard her sniff, but then she pulled herself together and opened the door.

**Blair **

Nate and Blair walked calmly and silently to the hospital. Blair knew there would be chaos inside.

Jack wasn't hiding. He was talking calmly to Serena and Dan when Blair and Nate got there.

"Nathanial and Blair! Nice of you to join us," Jack said with a grin.

"What do you want, Jack?" Blair asked tiredly. "Just tell me, whatever it is I'll do it. I don't have the energy to deal with your games."

No games, no schemes, just like Nate had suggested. Maybe he was right, and this was best. Or maybe she was just too tired to scheme, too tired to be Blair Waldorf.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "You've already given it to me."

"What do you mean?" Blair asked.

"All I wanted was for you to finally show up here. Running off with some other guy while my nephew lies alone in a hospital bed? It's a disgrace. I'm just helping him out."

"You're lying," Blair said, narrowing her eyes. "Please, Jack, no more games. I'm done."

"No games," Jack promised.

"Wait, so you don't want Bass Industries?" Dan clarified.

"And you don't want Chuck dead?" Nate added.

"What, you think I want my own nephew dead? Nathaniel, I'm surprised at you! You think I'm really that evil?"

"You've proved you are and more," Blair said.

"Okay, just pretending you are telling the truth for a moment, why would you try to take Chuck off life support if you cared as much about his happiness as you say?" Serena questioned.

"I knew it was the only thing that would get Blair here," Jack said. "And I'm not going to let Chuck get taken off of life support. I wasn't going to follow through with it."

Blair resisted the urge to scream at Jack. So this was it? She'd panicked and cried and stressed out about this? A Jack Bass scheme that turned out to be more friendly than deadly?

"You've got to be kidding me," Blair said. "All this, just to get me here?"

"This isn't a joking matter," Jack said. "Chuck is still in a coma, in the hospital. You didn't come here for nothing."

Blair had to admit that there was some truth for that. And since she was there, why not visit him?

Well, there was the simple fact that she was in a wedding dress and that today was her wedding day. Probably not the best time to visit a patient at a hospital. But she had stopped the wedding for this. She should at least see him.

"Alright," Blair said finally. "I'll go see him. But it's not going to help."

She was beyond annoyed with Jack and his scheme. But maybe this had all happened for a reason. She should've been visiting him this whole time. It wasn't fair to him to stay away, and her deal with God clearly wasn't working. It had taken a stupid Jack Bass joke to get her to realize that, but at least she had realized it, and it was time to make up for lost time and visit Chuck.

"Great!" Jack clapped his hands together. "I'll just go tell them to call off the whole operation, and keep that machine plugged in."

"What?" Serena asked, her eyes widening. "You mean they actually thought you were going to go through with this? They think they're killing Chuck in-"

Serena glanced at the clock and gasped.

"One minute," Blair whispered.

Jack laughed. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Calm down! I staged this whole thing, no one's pulling the plug! You guys are really fun to mess with. You're way too gullible, not to mention overdramatic."

They all glared at Jack.

"Overdramatic?" Nate asked. "Coming from the guy who just staged this whole thing just to get a girl to visit your nephew in the hospital?"

Jack shrugged. "He's waiting," he said. "You better go. He's still in a coma. This isn't all fun and games."

"No one said it was," Blair snapped. She looked around. "Well?" she said. "Isn't someone going to take me to him? I've only been to his room once, and he's probably been moved."

Serena sighed and took her arm. "You know, you wouldn't need our help to get there if you'd been visiting Chuck this whole time."

"Yeah," Nate agreed. "I don't approve of Jack's plan, but at least it got you here. He needs you, Blair."

"I know," Blair said softly. "But I need to not be here."

"That doesn't make any sense," Nate said, furrowing his brow. "You know, I don't think I'll ever figure you out, Blair."

"We should probably find Lily before we go," Serena said. "She may be freaking out to some poor clueless doctor now, trying to stop the-Mom?"

They all looked to where Serena was looking to see Lily walking slowly towards them with a doctor.

"Mom, it's okay, the whole thing was just a big joke, Chuck's fine-"

"No," Lily interrupted. "No, Serena, he's not."

"I don't understand," Serena said, looking between the doctor and her mother, voice already wobbling.

Lily looked away, and Blair did the same. Something was very, very wrong. She could see it on Lily's face, and in the grim expression the doctor wore, the one reserved for relaying bad news to their patients' families. She looked away because she didn't want to see the doctor's mouth move, didn't want to see him say it. She didn't want to see Serena's face as she tried to deny it, and the tears that would fall when she accepted it was true. She didn't want to see the hope leave the man who had been at his best friend's side this whole time, just like she should have been. She wouldn't see it, she couldn't. But she could feel it. She could feel it coming. And she couldn't stop herself from hearing it, even through the pounding in her ears and the alarm blaring in her head, telling to run, run far away, and leave this awful place before she heard the thing that would break her.

She tried not to listen to what the doctor said. But she still heard things. She heard "brain dead", she heard "unresponsive", and she heard "nothing more we can do". She heard "I'm sorry". She heard explanations, she heard condolences, she heard tears, and then she heard no more of that awful discussion as she ran down the halls, not thinking she would know where to go but somehow finding herself there.

"No," she whispered, not looking at his face, not able to, instead looking at his hand and slipping it into hers.

"I'm so sorry," Blair said. "I didn't mean to-" Her voice caught in her throat. "I don't know what else to do. I tried staying away. Then I tried coming to save you. Neither worked. I don't know why this happened. I thought I knew, but now….Now I'm just wondering why this has to happen. I love you, and that's all I can give you. Is it not enough? But it's everything. It's all I have to give you. Please….please don't leave me here alone. Please…you'll be alright. Just wake up. I just need you to wake up."

Blair wiped a tear away. "But you can't do that, can you?" she said sadly in a quiet voice.

Blair felt a hand on her shoulder, as warm as Chuck's hand was cold.

"He was in a lot of pain, Blair," Serena said. "Maybe it's…it's better this way."

"Better?" Blair said, glancing up to see Serena. Tears ran down her face, but she wasn't breaking down. Maybe she was stronger than Blair thought she was. Maybe she was stronger than Blair. Maybe she was stronger than all of them, and Blair hadn't realized it until now. She had a determined look on her face under the tears, but what was she determined to do? Blair shifted her gaze to Nate, who looked about ready to fall over. He wasn't crying, he just had a sort of dead look on his face. He was past tears. Blair looked back to Serena, still determined, and Blair realized why. She was a mess, Nate was a mess, and Chuck was…well, Chuck was gone. Or would be soon. And someone had to keep it together. Someone had to hold them all up, or their whole world would collapse. Blair had never really seen Serena as someone who could carry people. She was a good friend, maybe, but when tragedy struck she was just as much of a mess as everyone else. Blair remembered a time that she had said that Chuck carried people, carried her. That seemed so long ago now. Maybe this was Serena stepping up, accepting the position that Chuck had vacated, inheriting the role. Maybe Serena had grown up while the rest of them had been too busy falling apart. Maybe.

She looked up at Serena helplessly. "What do we do?" she asked desperately to everyone in the room. In return, she got blank stares. "Think!" she shouted, more to herself than anyone else.

Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. Her thoughts were in molasses, there but unable to form together and make plans.

"There has to be something," Blair said. "I'm Blair Waldorf," she said wildly, not even knowing what she meant. She was reminded of Chuck's favorite phrase-"I'm Chuck Bass"-and her heart clenched painfully.

"Yes," Serena agreed. "But that doesn't mean you can do everything. There are some things that even Blair Waldorf can't do. You can't fix this, Blair. It's done."

"Then what can I do?" Blair asked in a small voice.

Serena looked at Nate, but Nate didn't seem to have heard the conversation. If he had, he was unable to speak.

"Be here," Serena said quietly. "Hold his hand while they do it."

"He won't know we're here," Blair said. "This is just a body. This isn't him. He's….left."

"All the more likely he'll see you supporting him, then," Serena said resolutely.

Blair nodded.

"He's in a better place," Serena said, but Blair didn't respond. It sounded like something someone would say to a little girl whose pet hamster had just died. It was a lame excuse, it didn't mean anything. It was something everyone said. But did that make it less true?

Blair was done thinking. She finally looked at the face of the man who would never think again.

"Are you ready?" Serena asked softly.

"I'll never be ready," Blair answered for them all. "None of us will be. But they can do it. No use prolonging it. It's just a body, right? I mean, there's no way he'll wake up?"

"Nothing's impossible," the doctor shrugged. "But no one ever does."

"He's already gone, Blair," Serena said soothingly. "He's gone."

Blair clenched her jaw and looked at Chuck again. She wanted to tell them to stop, to not do it, to let him live, but maybe he'd been dead all along. Not physically, maybe, but maybe his brain, and the real Chuck, had been gone this whole time. The doctors had said that he'd been largely unresponsive. Maybe her Chuck had been gone the moment they got in that crash, and she was just now realizing it. There was no use putting off the inevitable, and putting everyone through more pain and waiting, for her own selfish desires. And if there was an ounce of Chuck left, maybe he was begging for them to do it, maybe Serena was right and he had been in unbearable pain this whole time, and keeping a man who would never wake up alive was just torturing him.

"Do it," Nate said in a hollow voice, finally speaking up. "That's not my best friend. Serena's right."

Lily nodded. "It's over. It's always been over. I just can't believe it took me this long to realize it."

Serena looking back at Blair. "B?" She asked.

Blair didn't trust herself to speak, so she simply nodded. They all gathered around him.

She had come in today convinced she would stop this from happening, and now she was agreeing to it. Things had certainly not gone as planned. But that was life. Maybe life wasn't about cause and effect. Maybe she didn't cause it, maybe no one had. It had just happened, like the mess that was her breakup with Chuck after he slept with Jenny. It was chance. There was no good reason for it. You just had to hope every day that bad luck wouldn't strike you dead next, and get on with and enjoy your life as best as possible until that day. How foolish she had been to think that she could change this, to think that her and Chuck's love made them an exception to this rule of death, made them immortal. How many times had she read Romeo and Juliet? How many times had Serena forced her to see Titanic? Love didn't stop lives from ending in tragedy. Why had she thought that this would be any different?

"I'll never let you go," Blair said, even though that felt like it was what she was doing. But no, she reminded herself, this wasn't him she was letting go. He had left her here alone, even though she had begged him not to. But she wasn't mad. And she would never let him go, not in her heart.

"I'm not mad at you," Blair said softly. "I don't blame you for letting go, for leaving me. Maybe it wasn't your fault. And I'm so sorry for all of the pain I've caused you, and I wish I could try and make it up to you, but there's no time left. If I could, I would spend the rest of my life on it. You said something similar to me once. We've both made mistakes. We've both caused each other pain. But all that's dead and gone and past tonight. If you can hear me…I love you. I always have. And not even death will change that. Till death do us part, they say, but you'll be with me forever."

She didn't care that they could all hear. She really didn't. She had to get this out, if there was any chance at all that somewhere, anywhere, he could hear her.

"Goodbye Chuck."

"Bye," they all echoed.

"I can't believe I wasted so much time on this wedding," Blair said after a moment, looking down at her ring. "I should have been by his side. The pact didn't work. It was never going to."

The beeping stopped. She didn't want to think what that meant, but she knew.

"Oh, well," Blair said. "None of it matters anymore."

She took off her engagement ring and let it drop.

It clanged to the floor.

Suddenly, at the same time, a beep was heard. Blair thought she had imagined it at first.

Then she felt something in her left hand, still holding Chuck's and now ringless.

He had squeezed her hand.

"Stop!" she cried, her heart beating fast. "Stop! He's alive, you have to believe me, I just-"

"It's impossible," a doctor said, looking at the heart monitor as the beeping sped up.

"No, it's a miracle," Lily said, staring in wonder at Chuck.

"Chuck?" Blair asked, not daring to hope. "Can you hear me?"

There was no response.

"If you can hear me, please just open your eyes. Please… just open your eyes."

There was silence for a moment while everyone waited. Then-

"Anything for you, Waldorf," Chuck said weakly, opening his eyes.

They all stared as he squinted against the bright lights of the room.

Chuck stared back. "So," he said, his voice a little hoarse. He squinted at them all, his eyes resting on Blair's wedding dress. "Is this real? Or am I still there?"

**Chuck **

"Oh my god," Lily breathed.

"You're alive!" Blair said. A grin was growing on her face. "Oh, my god, you're alive!"

Chuck looked around again. He could see Lily, Nate, Blair, and a doctor. Blair was in a wedding dress, just like she had been in the dream world. Was he still there, or not?

"Still where, Mr. Bass?" the doctor asked.

"I…" Chuck trailed off. "Why are you in a wedding dress?" he asked Blair suddenly.

He had a million questions, and that hadn't been the one he had meant to ask. But it was the one that came out, and maybe it was one of the most important ones, even if it didn't seem like it.

Everyone was silent. Blair looked down.

"How are you feeling?" the doctor asked after a moment.

"Tired," Chuck said. "Confused…" His eyes once again rested on the dress.

"What's the last thing you remember?" the doctor asked.

Chuck hesitated. He should say the accident. That's what they wanted him to say. But it wasn't the last thing he remembered. The last thing he remembered was jumping off a bridge. And now he wasn't so sure where reality had stopped and crazy had started.

"The bridge," he said finally. "I saved Blair. She was falling…I pulled her up. She was in her wedding dress…she had just come from her wedding with Louis…there were others, too…Nate was there…"

Blair's eyes widened. "I knew it!" she said triumphantly to Nate. "I knew he was there!"

"It's not possible," Nate said, shaking his head. "Think about what you're saying, Blair. He's been in a coma. I think someone would have noticed if he had left the hospital and then come back."

"But he had to be there," Blair said. "How else would he know?"

"Tell us more about what happened on the bridge," the doctor said.

"Lily, Serena, and Dan were also there. Saying all of these things…awful things. I called their bluff. I figured out Blair was as fake as the rest of them. Then the beeping stopped, and I knew the heart monitor had stopped, and I was as good as dead…so I jumped."

"Jumped where?" Lily asked.

Chuck shrugged. "Here, I guess. I can't explain it. I don't understand it myself."

The doctor nodded. "Sometimes patients in comas will….well, we call it dreaming, but it's different than that. Similar, though. And it lasts the whole coma. Was that what it was like, Mr. Bass?"

Chuck didn't want to answer. He still wasn't sure if this was the real world or not, or if he could trust these people.

"Squeeze my hand really tightly," he told Blair.

She looked surprised. "Why do you-"

"Just do it," Chuck said. "Ow!"

He smiled. Everyone looked bewildered again.

This was real. He was alive. He was okay, and Blair was okay, and suddenly he felt that everything was going to be okay.

"But…how did you survive? I mean, it's impossible!" Serena said.

Chuck grinned. "I'm Chuck Bass," he said, by way of explanation. "And I'm back."

They were okay, everything was okay. The last time he had felt like this felt like ages ago. The last time he felt that maybe everything was going to be okay was that night in the limo, when he felt sure he had a future with Blair and the baby.

But the ironic thing was that everything hadn't been okay. They had crashed and gotten into this mess. All of a sudden Chuck had a terrible feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong, that they world wouldn't let them be happy, and everything was going to be anything but okay.

But no, that was stupid. Him and Blair had survived, how could everything not be okay? He was just being paranoid.

Blair had a strange pained look on her face.

"Hey, you alright?" Nate, who had noticed too, asked her.

"Yeah…I'm fine," Blair said slowly. "It's just-never mind. It's nothing." Her hand moved to her stomach.

Later on, he looked back on this moment. Stupid. He had been stupid. Not paranoid. Just an idiot. He couldn't believe he hadn't seen, hadn't noticed…but then, how could he have? He was too happy. Too happy that she was okay, that he was okay. He had wanted so badly to believe everything was going to be amazing from that point on. He blindly convinced himself that everyone was safe, safe and sound.

But he had been wrong.

"Hey, it's okay," Chuck tried to reassure her, thinking that maybe she was feeling the same thing as him, that same irrational paranoia that the world wasn't going to let things turn out alright. "Everything's going to be-"

"Oh my god," Nate breathed.

"Yes, Nathaniel, we've already established that I'm alive, despite your best efforts to kill me, and it's a big surprise and all," Chuck said.

"No," Nate shook his head, a horrified look on his face. "It's not that. I-Blair-"

Everyone followed Nate's eyeline. Blair was the last to look.

They all stared at the blood on the floor, staining Blair's white dress. Blair stared down at it with them, her mouth forming a small "O", and her hand moving back to her stomach.

She fell back.

**Epilogue **

AFTERWARDS

For kids, every story ends with "Happily Ever After". Everyone wants to hear that no matter what happened in the story, no matter what went wrong on the journey to the end, everything turns out alright. But life isn't a children's story.

"_Help!" Nate called, holding Blair in his arms, blood spreading onto his white shirt. "Don't just stand there! Do something!" _

_The doctor stopped staring at Chuck like he had never seen anything like him and ran from the room. _

"_Are you kidding?" Nate called after him. _

"_I'm sure he's just getting help," Serena said. "What's going on, what's happening?" _

"_It's the baby," Lily said. "There's something wrong." _

"_How do you know?" Serena demanded. "Maybe….maybe she's fine, maybe they're fine…" _

_But not one of them believed that, looking at Nate's shirt and Blair's newly red dress. _

_The doctor ran back in with two others, pulling a hospital cot. They took Blair from Nate's arms and placed her on the cot, then rushed out of the room. Nate ran after them until they went through some swinging doors he knew he shouldn't go past. It was up to them now. There was nothing he could do. _

There are miracles in life. There is magic. But those are exceptions to the rule. They don't mean the world is perfect. Because it's not. It's far from it. It's a broken, messed up place 70% of the time. But there's still that other 30%, and that 30% gives us hope. It allowed the beautiful Claire to get everything she thought she wanted at one point in her life. She inherited her mother's company, married the love of her life, and was rich and successful. But the 70% cost her the one thing she never knew she wanted until she had it, and never knew how much she needed until it was gone.

"_It's gone, isn't it?" Blair asked when she woke up. She looked at Serena. Serena bit her lip and sighed. _

"_I'm so sorry, Blair," she said. "They did everything they could." _

"_This is all my fault," Blair sobbed. "It's the stress, isn't it? That killed the baby? And I insisted on a big wedding, even though I should've been in bed. I didn't rest like they told me to. And at the bridge…I could've done more, I could've been more careful, I-" _

"_Blair, this isn't your fault. You couldn't have stopped the car crash or what happened on the bridge. These things just happen sometimes. It might have happened anyways. The baby was already weak after the accident…there was nothing you could have done, Blair, it just happened…" _

"_It just happened? It? Serena, that 'it' is the death of my son or daughter! That' it' changed everything for me! I was going to be a mother…and now I'm not…Serena, having a sleepover with your ex from high school when you're dating Nate is something that 'just happens'. Being late meeting the love of your life on top of the empire state building is something that 'just happens'. But this? The death of my child? This isn't just something. It's not something that 'just happens.' It's some sort of punishment, some sign-" _

"_I thought you didn't believe in signs," Dan said from the doorway. "Signs are for the religious, superstitious, and lower class. I don't believe in them and neither should you," he quoted her. _

"_I said that a long time ago," Blair whispered. "And right before I was shown a sign…so I don't think it counts." _

"_This isn't your fault," Dan insisted. "Please, Blair, you're the strongest woman I know. Don't let this break you." _

"_It's the death of my child," Blair said. "How can I not?" _

Claire's baby is gone. She'll never name it, teach it to walk and talk, watch it grow up, see it graduate, watch it get into college, go to its wedding, or be there to see it have kids of its own. But she can still love it. She can remember it. And maybe, one day, they'll meet again.

The 70% claimed Charlie Trout. But there are others similar to him, still alive. One, in particular, just like him. And many of those others will find that 30%, and refuse to let the 70% take them, especially if they have help from the Claires of the world.

"_I'm sorry." _

_Blair looked up from her bed. "It's not your fault," she said, her voice hollow. _

"_I'm still sorry," Chuck shrugged. "You don't deserve this." _

"_Don't I?" Blair looked up. "Go home, Chuck." _

_There was silence. Then, gentler, "You should be resting." _

"_I'm fine," Chuck said, moving from the doorway to sit on Blair's bed. "There, I'm resting. Happy?" _

"_I don't think I'll ever be happy again," Blair said quietly. _

_Chuck sighed, and neither of them spoke for a while. "I heard you send Louis back to Monaco." _

_Blair nodded. "We weren't right for each other. I didn't want to marry him. He wanted to stay and take care of me after…after I lost the baby, but I told him I just needed to be alone for a while. I don't think he wanted to stay, anyways. Losing the baby was hard on both of us." _

_Chuck nodded. "I know. A few months ago, we had everything. We were going to be together, we were going to spend our lives together, we were going to raise the baby together…and now it's all gone. We're both alone, and the baby is gone." _

"_Don't act like you have any right to be upset about this, or like you get what I'm going through," Blair snapped. "It wasn't your baby." _

_More silence. _

"_I'm sorry," Blair sighed. "I didn't mean to be rude. It's just-" _

"_I know," Chuck sighed. "You don't think I understand. And maybe I don't. But I think I do, to a certain level. I thought I was going to be a dad. Well, a stepdad. I was ready to love that baby like it was my own. And I know what it's like to lose somebody you love. I lost my father, remember? And you stuck by me then. You fought for me. No, you did more than that, you saved my life. And now I'm here to do the same for you. I'm going to fight for you, Blair. For you, your love, your happiness, your life. And this time…I'm going all in. I don't care how much you push me away. Because in the face of true love you don't just give up…even when the object of your affections is begging you to." _

"_Sounds familiar," Blair said. "And I appreciate your concern." _

"_No, you don't." Chuck said. "You don't appreciate anything today. You haven't appreciated anything since the baby died. But I don't care. Whatever you're going through, I want to be there for you." _

"_We've talked about this. I know I'm not marrying Louis, but that doesn't mean we're together. You are not my boyfriend." _

"_But I am me, and you're you. Remember? We're Chuck and Blair. Blair and Chuck. The worst thing you've ever done, the darkest thought you've ever had, I will stand by you through anything. I know I lost the privilege of you doing the same for me. I know I've screwed up in the past. I've hurt you before. I've left you. I've been a coward. But I'm done with all that now. You told me once that I carried you, and that I was becoming a man, and I proved you wrong. But now I'm going to prove you right. I'm going to be strong enough for both of us. I'm going to carry you forever, if you need me to. I'll never give up on you, Blair Waldorf. Because I love you. And it's time for me to be a man and fight for the woman I love, even if you don't want me to right now." _

_Blair didn't say anything. She didn't say okay, didn't say she loved him too. Tears ran down her face. Chuck moved to lie next to her, and she leaned on his shoulder and cried. He held her for hours until she fell asleep. She didn't say a word, but she didn't have to. She had accepted that he would fight for her. She believed him. She knew he would keep his word. And that was enough for now. He loved her, and that was enough. _

There were some things that Derek would just never understand, and one of them was named Claire Carlisle. But he would support her no matter what. She had always fascinated him, and maybe it was because she was older and just seemed so sure of herself, but it was also an air she had about her. He was a bigger help than any of them thought he would be after Claire's tragedy. No one quite understood how he did it, but he always seemed to make her feel better. Derek was the kind of guy who usually saw the 30% in the world, and maybe all Blair needed was someone who could show her that the 30% still existed.

"_He was there, Nate. He saved me." _

_Nate sighed. "Blair, it's-" _

"_Impossible, right? But it's not. I know it, I can feel it. He saved me. I don't know how, but he did." _

"_Blair, you pulled yourself up." _

"_Maybe," Blair shrugged. "But if I did, he's the one who helped me. He's the one who gave me the mental and physical strength to do it. It's because of him that I'm standing here today, and I will love him forever for that." _

"_Then why aren't you with him now? Why don't you tell him that you love him, and the two of you can be happy together, just like you've always wanted?" _

"_Because I can't right now," Blair said. "But maybe someday…" _

_Nate sighed again. Maybe there were some things that he would just never understand, and one of them was named Blair Waldorf. _

Sabrina always seemed to have fun despite the 70%, but maybe there's more to her character than that. Maybe the 70% affected her more than anyone knew. Maybe the pretty blonde party girl was more than she seemed. Sabrina was able to prove to the world that there was more than what met the eye. She got a real job and held it, impressing all of us. One day we realized she was the strongest of us all. She forgave those who hurt her, and she stopped holding grudges, and that made her stronger than any of them.

"_Serena?" _

_Serena turned around to see the blonde formerly known as her cousin walking towards her. _

"_Char-I mean, Ivy. Hi." Serena didn't really know what to say. On the one hand, this girl had lied to and conned her family, but she had apologized and given all of the money back. And she was the reason Max and Tripp were in jail. She had foiled their plan, even if it was a little too late. She had tried to save them. _

"_Hi," Ivy said awkwardly. "Look, I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry. I never meant for anyone to get hurt. I just….I never had a family. And suddenly I had one. It wasn't about the money for me. It was about all of you. I knew you all must hate me now, but I just want you to know-" _

"_I don't hate you," Serena said. "Anyways, I think most of Manhattan hating you is enough. I saw the article." _

_Ivy nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty harsh. But it was true. I faked my identity. I deserve worse than I got….you know, you could have pressed charges. I deserved it." _

"_You made sure Max and Tripp got what they deserved, so consider us even." _

_Ivy nodded again. "I'm sorry about Blair's baby." _

"_It's not your fault." _

"_I'm still sorry. She didn't deserve it. She was a really great person. You all are. I don't know why Carol called this world poison, because I've met some of the nicest people I've ever known here." _

"_Oh, yeah, Max and Tripp are real softies." _

_Ivy laughed. "Well, not them." _

_Serena smiled, then looked down as her grin faded. It was strange, joking with the girl who had completely deceived and cheated her family for so long. But somehow it felt good. _

"_I knew your real cousin. We worked together in some shows. I hope one day she gets to meet you. She's really lucky to have such a great family. I would kill for a family like yours." _

_Serena nodded. _

"_Well, I should be going. I've got to get back to L.A. Maybe I can still be an actress." _

_Ivy started to walk away. _

"_Oh, and Ivy?" Serena called after her. _

_Ivy turned. _

"_Thank you." _

"_You don't have anything to thank me for. We're even, remember?" _

"_I know, but still…thank you." _

_Ivy smiled and nodded. _

_Serena watched her walk away. She couldn't believe she wasn't furious at Ivy, but in the end Ivy had just wanted to be happy, and that was all anyone wanted. She couldn't blame her for that. _

_A lot had happened in the past few months. Everything was different now. And Serena knew that she was different, too. Maybe she was finally growing up. Blair needed her. Chuck needed her, and Nate needed her. And she was going to help them all. Because she wanted them all to be happy too. And she loved them…and sometimes, that was enough. _

Claire loved Dylan, but in the end he wasn't right for her. He needed to let go of his fantasy and realize that Claire, just like Sabrina and countless other Upper East Side princesses, was flawed and imperfect and real. And maybe that was better. Claire ended up with a man who loved her very much, and he helped her heal. Claire and Dylan remained friends.

"_Get out!" Blair yelled, jumping behind a curtain. "Oh, it's just you." _

"_Wow, thanks," Dan laughed. _

"_Sorry, I was just worried you were Chuck. I didn't want him to see me in my dress before I walk down the aisle. It's bad luck." _

"_Of course," Dan said, laughing again. Then he grew serious. "You look beautiful, Blair. You doing okay?" _

"_You don't have to keep checking up on me, I'm fine," Blair rolled her eyes. "It's been years since what happened during and right after the bridge incident. I'm okay, really. Stop worrying about me." _

"_I'll never stop worrying about you," Dan said. "I care about you too much."_

_Blair smiled. A tear rolled down her cheek. "No, these are happy tears!" she assured Dan quickly. "I'm so incredibly happy to be here today, marrying Chuck. I just…I wish the baby could've been here today, you know? Of course, he or she wouldn't be a baby anymore." _

"_The baby is here," Dan said. "I know it's watching you and grinning ear to ear about its mom being so happy. I'm sure Bart is holding him or her and smiling too." _

"_Oh, that's a strange thought," Blair laughed. "Bart plus baby?" _

"_I'm sure he's treating her just fine." _

"_I know he is," Blair said. She wiped away a tear and took a deep breath. _

"_You ready to become a Bass?" _

"_We're both ready," Blair corrected him with a smile, her hand moving to the just barely visible bump on her stomach. _

_Dan smiled back. "I'll see you in there, Mrs. Bass," he said. _

_She wasn't marrying him, like he had once hoped. But that was okay. He had learned long ago that nothing could get in the way of Chuck and Blair, not scandals or princes or deranged politicians. And he had also accepted that long ago. His loved Blair, even though it was just as a friend. Sometimes, that was enough. _

They had all grown up. Things had changed, but that wasn't always a bad thing. They had been broken, but they had helped each other recover.

As for Dylan? He stopped being such a judgmental ass, and he was happier for it. In fact, I think he's going to be just fine. They all will be, despite the cruelty of the world. They'll help each other through their difficult lives. Because, whether it's as friends or spouses or family, they love each other.

And sometimes, that's enough.

**THE END**

**AN: Sorry sorry sorry, I know it took a ridiculously long time to update, and I don't think anyone's still reading this, but I decided to post it just in case someone is. I decided to post the epilogue with this chapter because I had it done, and I was just being lazy and thought you deserved both chapters ASAP anyways. The epilogue was supposed to be Dan's "Afterwards" for his book, broken up by flashbacks. I don't know a ton about Dan's book so the "Afterwards" might not be entirely realistic, and I know it's a bit vague, but I did the best I could! Oh and I know I used a ton of references to gossip girl episodes both before and after the when this story takes place, I hope that's okay, I'm sure you'll catch them all. I hope you like it, please review! Thanks for reading the story! **


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